Multiplicity
by mikebreslau
Summary: What if Ranma was a very, very good martial artist? What if he had more than one body at the same time? How does he deal with being uniquely powerful? 11 Chapters
1. Ultimatum

Multiplicity

A Ranma fanfic by Mike Breslau

Disclaimer: You know the drill: better folks than I own the characters that appear in this scribbling.

* * *

Somewhere deep in a wooded area of Japan stood an odd cabin. It was small,  
only eight feet square, and had only one window and no door. It wasn't  
there this morning, and all traces of it would be gone by noon tomorrow.  
Inside the odd structure Ranma looked around, pride and astonishment  
clearly evident on both of his faces. After much experimentation he had  
finally improved upon the Amazon's "Splitting Cat Hairs" technique, and  
now he had two real and solid bodies. His one and only mind was shared  
equally among both of his bodies - he was seeing through two pairs of  
eyes, with two points of view, and similarly all the sensory input of both  
clones was experienced by just one martial artist with two bodies and two  
brains.

It was _very _ disorienting.

Ranma paused for a while to adjust to the multiplicity of sensory inputs.  
Experimentally, he tried to move the right hand of the body seated on his  
futon - and was gratified to see that the other right hand did not move.  
That meant that he could move each clone independently of the other. If  
his copies were condemned to move in lockstep it would make his new  
technique nearly useless for fighting - not good. With growing confidence,  
he made a fist with the left hand of the body standing in a corner. It  
worked. Success! Ranma smiled in stereo.

"Now I'll find out for sure if two heads are better than one," Ranma  
thought whimsically. He opened the window once and climbed out of it  
twice. Taking stances, he prepared to spar against himself. After all,  
where else could he find a partner at his own high level? Sparring didn't  
work out too well - each of his offensive moves was anticipated and  
blocked perfectly - his 'opponent' could read his mind. Ranma settled for  
doing two different katas concurrently. It was rough for the first few  
minutes as he learned to process twice as much information per second as  
he had ever done before. Practice makes perfect, and after half an hour  
Ranma was quite skilled at managing two bodies at once.

Ranma decided to see how far apart his bodies could be and remain mentally  
linked. His two bodies started running in opposite directions, being  
careful to avoid detection. When he was three miles apart he paused and  
looked around. There was no reduction in the unity of his mind. In some  
ways it was easier than being close to himself - instead of having two  
points of view on the same scene, he now had a single point of view on  
each of two unrelated scenes. He scratched beneath his pigtails - this  
still took some getting used to. Ranma's clones returned to the cabin  
site, again being careful to avoid detection. One of his bodies paused at  
a creek and dipped his hand into the cold water, with the usual result. A  
quick check showed that having two genders did not impair his mental unity  
at all - he as still one Ranma. He very briefly considered the hentai  
possibilities of this situation, and dismissed it as being unworthy of an  
artist who aspired to honor.

Now it was time for the most critical and dangerous test of all - could he  
revert to having only one body, or would that be too much like dieing? He  
would be removing half of his flesh without benefit of anesthesia - surely  
at the least it would be painful. "The life of a martial artist is fraught  
with peril," he quoted. Mentally gritting his teeth, he caused his newer  
body to vanish. It was disorienting, but to his surprise it didn't hurt a  
bit. Being stuffed back into only one body was familiar, but strangely  
confining. He'd lost half of his brain and half of his senses; Ranma  
realized how much he had already gotten used to being in two places at  
once.

Why was Ranma alone in the wilderness, and what about the rest of the  
Nerima Wrecking Crew? How was he able to duplicate his body, and why? For  
answers to these questions we have to go back almost a year, to a day two  
weeks after the failed wedding attempt.

* * *

Imagine a wavy "begin extended flashback" sequence here...

* * *

It was late in the afternoon. Almost all the principal characters in  
Ranma's life were gathered, at his invitation, in the rebuilt (and  
reinforced) Tendo dojo. Ranma was pacing back and forth in the front of  
the room, his usual self-assurance was conspicuous by its absence.

"Well, are you ready to tell us what this is all about?" asked Genma,  
sounding annoyed. "We're all here now."

Ranma stopped pacing and drew himself erect. "If any of you really know me  
- know how my life has been going - you'd know things cannot continue as  
they have been. Every one of you has made demands of me, tried ta force  
choices upon me, or tried to determine how I lived my life. It isn't  
possible to satisfy all of you, or even a group of you, because these  
demands and obligations often conflict with each other." His voice grew  
louder, betraying his frustration. "Not once has anyone ever asked me how  
_I _ want to live or what _I _ want to do." His fists clenched.  
"It's gotten so bad that if you asked me that today I couldn't answer! I  
haven't had time to figure out who I am or what I want to do. This has to  
stop, and it has to end today."

Genma interrupted, "Now see here, boy..."

Ranma's aura manifested in a large polychromatic display, eliciting gasps  
from his audience. He leveled a malevolent glare at the part-time panda  
and nearly shouted, "Shut up, Pop. I didn't ask for your opinion. I never  
asked for your opinion; you usually just shove it down my throat."

Genma shut his mouth, radiating displeasure. Ranma was too powerful, too  
dangerous, too angry, to mess with right now.

Ranma calmed himself with some effort and suppressed his aura. "I've  
decided I wanna leave on a SOLITARY training trip, for up to a year and a  
day. I need ta improve my martial arts skills so that things like the  
wedding fiasco can be controlled. I wanna figure out who I am, what I  
wanna do with my life, and who I will marry, if anyone."

There was a hubbub from the audience as many people tried to speak at  
once.  
"Take me with you, Ranchan."  
"Husband no leave..."  
"At last the evil sorcerer departs."  
"Now Shampoo will be mine."  
"Oh my!"

One voice cut through the commotion like a katana. "Running away isn't  
very manly, Son." Guess who.

Ranma approached his mother and knelt before her, head bowed, and then he  
stood up and looked her in the eye. "If you will not let me find myself or  
be myself, if you will not allow me to control my life or live my life,  
will you at least be my second?"

The silence in the room was deafening. Nodoka turned pale. "Are... Are you  
serious, Ranma?"

Ranma went over to his backpack which was leaning against the wall. He  
returned bearing a white kimono and a tanto. "I've never been more  
serious, Mother. I'm not a little boy anymore, and I can make my own  
decisions. This mess has to end tonight. If you will not let me live my  
life, at least let me end it."

A quiet "aiyah!" could be heard in the background. Mousse only smirked and  
said nothing.

Nodoka trembled in fear and indecision. This was her only child, and she  
was proud of his astonishing accomplishments. After a long pause she  
asked, "Do you promise to return here in a year and a day?"

Ranma's relief was palpable. "On my honor - in a year and a day or  
sooner."

"In that case, you may go with my blessings."

The room burst into pandemonium - 145 decibels!

Ranma's aura flashed bright white and disappeared a moment later like a  
flashbulb. The room quieted. "If I have your attention, I'm gonna make an  
announcement. This is gonna be a _solitary _ training trip - that  
means me alone. If any of you follow me, if any of you find me, I  
guarantee that you'll regret it for the rest of your life. If you see me  
coming run the other way. The gloves are off until I return. You can  
resume your petty bickering and futile wooing of me after I return, not  
before. Is that clear?" His countenance was stern.

The room was quiet, and a few heads nodded in reluctant agreement. Without  
further ado, Ranma strode over to his backpack and picked it up, then he  
faded into invisibility using his improved version of the Umi Sen Ken.

Ku Lon stamped her staff on the floor to get everyone's attention. "I hope  
everyone appreciates the seriousness of this situation. Ranma is the most  
powerful martial artist alive, and he is in a very precarious emotional  
state. You all saw his aura - he is in danger of losing his self-control.  
Ranma has killed several demons and many monsters, he has leveled two  
mountains with his bare hands, and he has slain a rogue demigod." There  
were a few gasps from the audience; the loudest was from Nodoka who had  
never learned what had transpired at Jusenkyo. Ku Lon continued, "He knows  
the nekoken, which is a form of berserk rage. Would any of you like to  
face a berserk godslayer when he was mad at you? The only reason any of us  
are still alive is because Ranma has a strong inhibition against killing,  
and he always held back when fighting us because of his personal sense of  
honor. If I were you, I'd take his warning seriously and wait for him to  
return."

Ku Lon glared at Xian Pu and Mu Tse. "That goes double for you two. If  
Ranma gets mad at either of you he might decide that all Amazons are  
'obstacles for killing.' How long do you think it would take him to  
destroy us all? If either of you goes looking for Ranma and survive, I  
personally will se that you are punished severely!" The younger Amazons  
blanched and nodded.

Ku Lon turned her glare on Genma. "If you meddle in Ranma's affairs before  
he returns, there's an old Chinese recipe I'd like to try: Moo Goo Gai  
Panda."

Genma blanched, and not just from the pun. The old ghoul was on a par with  
Happosai, and therefore out of his class.

Tatewaki was shocked by her speech. "The demon Ranma has slain a god? This  
evil cannot be borne..." Kuno only heard what he wanted to hear.

"If you attack Ranma now, then Japan will be missing a samurai-wannabe,"  
advised the elder.

"What are the chances that things will be quieter around here now?" Kasumi  
asked Nabiki.

"I wouldn't lay odds on that one, but I sure hope you're right," her  
sister replied.

* * *

Once outside the dojo Ranma ran. He didn't take to the rooftops - that's  
where they'd expect him to go - but instead ran, still cloaked, along the  
streets to the railroad station.

Ranma didn't want to take the train, he just wanted to use the rails to  
get out of town. The steel rails would leave no footprints or other  
traces. He ran along the tops of the rails in leaps that varied from 20  
feet to 40 feet, and occasionally switching from the left rail to the  
right rail to further confuse anyone tracking him. He kept his senses  
alert for danger, such as an approaching train or anyone trying to follow  
him. After a few miles the tracks passed under a high-tension electrical  
transmission line. Ranma grinned. He jumped to the top of a nearby utility  
pole and then lept gracefully onto one of the high-voltage wires. "Let  
them try to follow me up here," he thought.

Ranma ran carefully along the taut cable, keeping his distance from the  
other cables nearby. An observer on the gound would have noticed only a  
slight sag of the cable he was on, for he moved quickly and as lightly as  
a feather.

After three miles the transmission line crossed over a small stream. Ranma  
lept down into the water and paused to adjust his clothing as he shifted  
forms, then he proceeded to wade upstream. He continued until a smaller  
stream emptied into the brook. Ranma followed the smaller stream until he  
was sure that he had eluded anyone tracking him, then he left the water.  
Finally dropping the Umi Sen Ken, he pitched camp under the concealing  
lower branches of a large tree. The sun was setting, and he didn't want to  
go any further today - it had been an unusually emotional day, and he was  
exhausted.

As he lay in his tent, Ranma pondered his situation. Clearly improving his  
ki mastery was essential for improving his martial arts. A wise monk had  
once advised him to purify his ki. While emotion-based ki was easier to  
access, it was also slowly poisonous to the wielder. Akane used  
anger-based ki routinely, and look at her now. Likewise, Ryoga used  
depression-based ki, or sometimes anger-based ki, and now he was dominated  
by those emotions. In all honesty Ranma had to admit to himself that he  
himself was poisoned with an excess of confidence. It had two primary  
drawbacks: he would often rush in where more caution would be advisable,  
and it caused him to act cocky and brash, thus alienating his friends. The  
first order of business tomorrow would be developing pure ki, free from  
any emotions. The old monk had implied that it would be stronger than the  
ki he was using now.

Ranma's mood turned somber. Improving his martial arts skills was the  
easiest of the tasks before him. Genma had raised Ranma to be ignorant,  
compliant, and dependent on his father for directions - a tool for  
assuring Genma an early retirement based on Ranma's efforts. Damn him! Now  
he had to wean himself from his old man so he could be his own person, and  
he had to learn all the things that boys his age had learned while Ranma  
was doing martial arts exclusively. Yes, he has a world-class fighter, but  
he was a one-dimensional man. Somehow, Ranma vowed, he would find a way to  
become better educated and well rounded. With that thought Ranma rolled  
over and went to sleep.

* * *

The next day dawned bright and clear. Shampoo awoke early and began her  
usual morning rituals. When she came to a free moment she asked,  
"Great-grandmother, do you think Ranma will be alright? I miss him."

Cologne interrupted her soup-making. "Child, I don't think there is  
anything that can harm him physically; it's his mind that I am worried  
about."

"What do you mean, Grandmother?"

"Tell me, Shampoo, have you any experience in defusing a live nuclear  
warhead?"

The purple-haired beauty was taken aback. "No. Is it that bad?"

Cologne looked depressed. "Then do not even think of doing anything that  
could make Ranma angry until he calms down. That goes for you too, Mr.  
Part Time." Mousse had excellent hearing. He blushed and continued to  
sweep, pretending not to be listening.

Cologne continued, "Ranma may be the best martial artist alive, and I have  
no idea how much better he may yet become, but he is a man and men have  
emotional weaknesses. He has been under extreme pressure, some of it  
coming from us three, and he is very close to breaking. If the worst  
happens we could lose much more than just your husband..."

"Aiyah!"

* * *

Ranma awoke feeling optimistic. Today would be a good day, with beautiful  
weather, and minimal chance of getting wet. He spent more than an hour  
practicing katas and then made breakfast. He broke camp and began trying  
to perfect his Art.

"How can I purify my ki?" he wondered to himself. "Surely the Soul of Ice,  
or something like it would be a good starting place." He set to work.  
After two hours he realized that he was getting close, but there was  
something he was missing. "Nabiki controls her emotions completely and  
always hides what she is feeling - perhaps that's a technique of her Art.  
I wonder if I can learn anything from her example?"

As the sun began to sink towards the horizon Ranma felt that he had  
achieved his goal. "Who'da thunk I could learn anything useful from  
Nabiki?" He held out his hand, palm up, and tried to form a ball of ki.  
Instead of the usual bright blue color of confidence-based ki, he now had  
pure white ki - but it looked faint and transparent as if it was the ki of  
a ghost. "The color's good, but I wonder if it's a weak as it looks." He  
took aim at a house-size boulder that was located on the other side of the  
field he was training in. "Mouko Takabisha!" The faint ball of ki flew,  
more quickly than he expected, across the field. The boulder vanished in a  
loud explosion, and tons of gravel rained down all around him.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Ranma, stunned by the size of the blast. "That's too  
strong for me to use in a fight - even Saffron couldn't survive that! That  
old monk was right - pure ki is more powerful." He began to gather his  
camping gear and donned his backpack. "Time to get out of town; that blast  
would alert everyone that Ranma was here." He began to run in a series of  
jumps, only to find that he was jumping further than he expected. "My  
speed's increased too," he noticed, "I'm gonna have to adjust all my ki  
techniques or I'll lose control."

* * *

Soun studied the shogi board. "Do you think the boy will be all right?"

Genma remained vigilant against cheating as he answered, "Of course he'll  
be okay. I trained him well." What neither of them said was that if Ranma  
could survive Genma's training methods, then he could survive anything.

Soun moved a piece. "So you're not worried about anything?"

Genma considered for a moment then he made an answering move. "Yes, old  
friend, I am worried. Ranma is beginning to grow a backbone, and he might  
try to escape from my control."

Soun frowned. "Children his age always rebel against their parent's  
authority; it's perfectly normal."

"Still, we could generally browbeat him into doing whatever we want before  
the wedding disaster. Now I'm not so sure. I wanted him to be stronger  
than the master. Now that he is, I wonder if it was wise. He could be hard  
to control."

* * *

Ranma had spent a whole day adjusting to the increased power of his pure  
ki. His whole body now felt as if it were bursting with energy. It tingled  
faintly, like the memory of an electric shock. It was strange, but  
invigorating. If he used his fingertip, instead of his whole hand, as a ki  
focus than his Mouko Takabisha was of manageable strength. Now he could  
use four fingers (his thumb didn't work, for some reason) to launch  
simultaneous attacks - sort of like a gun with four barrels.

The next day began with a downpour. Ranma only grumbled a little. If there  
was nobody to see him he didn't bother to complain about being a girl. Not  
that he liked being a girl, but he had gotten used to it and didn't mind  
it much unless it was that time of the month. He/she had more important  
things on her mind.

This day was devoted to increasing the rate at which his/her body produced  
ki. Ki was generated simply by being alive, but when he had more ki he  
felt more alive. Could he use ki to increase the rate at which his body  
made ki? It was worth trying. By noon Ranma had succeeded. "If I do  
_this _ while breathing in, I generate more ki. If I do _that _  
while breathing out, then the new ki gets compacted and stored in my body.  
Neat!" Ranma spent the rest of the day practicing her new technique, and  
by the end of the day it had become habitual.

Ranma's negative emotions were gradually fading away as his training  
journey continued. His greatest pleasure had always come from improving  
his Art, and now there were no interruptions, no conflict, no conflicting  
demands of honor, and best of all, no fiancees. It was as close to  
paradise as he had ever experienced, and it was slowly cleansing his  
troubled soul.

* * *

Ukyo looked around her empty restaurant and sighed. "It's been so quiet  
around here since Ran-chan left. I wonder how he's doing..."

"I'm sure he'll come back," said Konatsu, trying to sound supportive while  
secretly hoping that Ranma was gone for good.

Ukyo began desultorily cleaning her grill. It seemed sort of pointless  
while Ran-chan was away.

* * *

Ranma's life had settled into a routine. Wake up and do katas for an hour  
or two, have breakfast, break camp unless it was raining, try to refine  
his ki techniques until late afternoon, eat dinner, move to a new location  
several miles away in a random direction, make camp, and then spend the  
rest of the day meditating about his life and how to improve it.

He found that he really couldn't improve his education or schoolwork while  
he was alone in the wilderness. The best he could do was to review the  
materials he had already learned and try to make sense of them. Similarly,  
he really couldn't improve his social skills when there was nobody he  
could interact with. This was a strictly solitary training trip, after  
all.

Today's goal was to duplicate and improve upon Akane's Monstrous Mallet of  
Mauling technique. Ranma was sure her mallet was made out of ki, probably  
angry ki, because it faded away whenever she lost interest in it. Had she  
been using Mousse's Hidden Weapons technique it wouldn't fade away like  
that. After a couple of hours of trying Ranma had manifested a hammer and  
then a sword using his new purified ki. These weapons were solid and well  
crafted, but they were lighter than "real" weapons would be - they lacked  
mass somehow - and Ranma didn't know whether the missing mass was a help  
or a hindrance.

He lost interest in the sword and the mallet and they faded away. "Let's  
get to the heart of the matter." He picked up a fist-sized rock and  
examined it carefully. Once he was sure he had the pattern, Ranma formed a  
ki-rock duplicate of the original stone. The copy weighed about half as  
much, but was otherwise identical. He studied the two to see how they  
differed. "Maybe if I do this..." The ki-rock briefly grew heavier, then  
returned to its original weight. "Okay, what if I do this..."

After about an hour of experimentation the two stones were completely  
identical, and the copy remained even when he stopped feeding more ki into  
it. Ranma's technique required more ki and more mental focus than the  
Tendo's technique, but he could produce real objects and Akane couldn't.  
"I can make somet'in outta nothin'!" he exclaimed happily. This had many  
possibilities.

* * *

"It's been two weeks since Ranma left. Things have been awfully quiet  
around here..." Akane mused aloud.

Nabiki smirked. "You miss him, don't you?"

Akane turned red. "I do not miss that three-timing, womanizing, jerk!"

"Are you hiding the truth from yourself, or are you merely trying to fool  
the rest of us?" Nabiki inquired sweetly.

Akane sulked. "He's probably seeing one of his floozies on the sly."

"I can tell you for a fact that none of his friends, male or female, have  
seen Ranma since he left. I do have my sources, you know."

Akane didn't reply.

Nabiki continued, "You know, Akane, none of his other fiancees leap to  
conclusions before giving him a chance to explain. Nor do they bash him  
first and ask questions later. If he hooked up with one of the other  
girls, he would be doing what any sensible guy would do. Yet, he still  
seems to prefer you over them..."

Akane's shoulders slumped. "He makes me so angry! I can't help myself,"  
she exclaimed softly.

Nabiki's voice became soft and sad. "I hate to tell you this, but the  
world does not revolve around you and your wishes. Just because you want  
to be the best martial artist does not make it so. You can't be the best  
cook just by wishing, either. If Ranma is the greatest martial artist,  
it's because he worked hard and long to become so. If Ukyo or Shampoo are  
great cooks, it's because they practiced and learned from their mistakes."

"What can I do, onee-chan?"

"Things are quiet and the pressure's off until Ranma returns. Maybe you  
could use this opportunity to improve your attitude and your skills."

* * *

Somewhere in another universe, thankfully far from our own universe, there  
was a thing. It had no fixed form - it resembled a dark mist - and it had  
no mind to speak of. It wasn't evil, or nasty, or greedy, it was merely  
hungry. Unfortunately, all it could eat was the ki of living things. It  
left a trail of lifeless desolation wherever it went - again, not from  
malice, but from necessity.

It had no name, and it needed none. We will call it "Nightmare."

Nightmare was composed of billions of particles, each of which changed  
colors randomly, but the chosen colors were always dark. The individual  
particles were somewhat like a prion - they had the power to warp normal  
ki into distorted ki like themselves.

* * *

Ranma had intended to work on Soun's Demon Head technique today, but he  
changed his mind when he noticed that the rock he had made yesterday was  
still there beside its twin. He picked up a rock in each hand. "I need to  
see if I can make my copy go away. I wonder if I can get my ki back  
too..." He thought about the method he had used to make it real and solid.  
"I should be able to undo it if I do this..." Five minutes later he held  
only one rock, and had received a ki boost too. "Yatta!"

Ranma eyed the remaining stone speculatively. It was similar in every way  
to the one he'd just undone. Could he undo this naturally occurring one  
too? He had to try. Without any fuss at all the 'real' stone turned into  
pure ki which Ranma absorbed. There were now no stones of its type.

Ranma gaped in surprise. Now this was a really useful martial arts  
technique - he could disarm any weapon-user once their weapon got close  
enough! He couldn't be disarmed himself, for he could rapidly make another  
if his own weapon was taken away. "I've got to explore these techniques.  
How big an object can I make or unmake? How far away? How quickly?" He set  
to work practicing.

Later that day Ranma ate a copy of one of Ukyo's special okonomiyaki for  
lunch and a duplicate of one of Kasumi's meals for dinner. The food was  
good, much better than the usual camp-out fare, and there was so much of  
it. Ranma was in a glutton's heaven. That evening instead of setting up a  
tent he created a small two-tatami one-room cabin with walls of inch-thick  
armor plate. The futon was more comfortable than his bed roll. This was  
the life!

**Author's Notes**

Yet another Ranma becomes very powerful fanfic by Mike Breslau.  
I'm not really in a rut, I'm just convinced that by the end of the manga  
Ranma is stronger than any possible opponent, and that's why the story  
ended there. (I'm also convinced that Ranma and Akane like each other very  
much, but a marriage between the two would never work out.)

About Nightmare: Later on it is described as having a mist-like or  
smoke-like appearance. Nightmare was conceived and written before I became  
aware that there was a "smoke monster" on the TV show "Lost". I do not  
watch television (except for DVDs) and so I miss so much. Not!  



	2. Goddess

Multiplicity

A Ranma fanfic by Mike Breslau

Disclaimer: You know the drill: better folks than I own the characters that appear in this scribbling.

* * *

Ryoga trudged across the frozen wasteland, his breath visible as a white  
fog. Judging by the penguins, he certainly wasn't in Tokyo anymore.

"Ranma, this is all your fault!" he shouted at the uncaring sky. Although  
he really couldn't figure out how it possibly could be Ranma's fault. It  
didn't matter - everything bad was always Ranma's fault, and would always  
be so, forever and ever.

* * *

Ranma decided to postpone the Demon Head for a while and work instead on  
Ryoga's Iron Cloth technique. It took less than an hour to duplicate the  
technique itself. Having pure ki, and plenty of it, made many things  
easier.

"Okay, now how do I improve this technique? 'Iron Skin' could be a neat  
armor..." he thought. It turned out to be great armor provided you didn't  
need to breathe or move. Ranma dropped that approach quickly. "Maybe lots  
of overlapping little scales, like dragon skin?" It was complicated to do,  
but it seemed feasible. He could still move and breathe.

"Perhaps I can get that original seamless approach to move with me?" He  
took 40 minutes to figure out how to do it. Now it was time for a test.  
He manifested a ki claw and tested its sharpness on a nearby rock, and  
then - carefully - on his forearm. The rock cut easily, his skin didn't.  
Ranma nodded, pleased with himself.

"Iron Air technique?" Ranma applied ki to a film of air just outside his  
clothing and dropped the Iron Skin technique. He tested it to make sure it  
would move with him. This was more comfortable than hardening his skin -  
and it kept the bugs away too. Neat! He tried moving the film of hardened  
air a few inches away from his body, an effect that resembled a force  
field. Oops - that pushed the ground a little bit away from beneath his  
feet, leaving Ranma floating in the air. He got no traction, making it  
hard to walk or even remain upright. That was amusing, but not very  
practical. He modified this approach so he could still walk on the ground.

Ranma was on a roll now. "Iron Water technique?" There was a brook near  
his campsite. Applying ki to the surface of the water allowed Ranma to  
walk on water! It was quite slippery, so he either had to stabilize his ki  
envelope or improve his balance when walking on turbulent, slippery  
surfaces. He chose to do both. The setting sun saw Ranma dancing on the  
surface of the brook. This was the life!

Now he had a permanent raincoat. The curse could draw water to him, but he  
wouldn't get wet unless he wanted to. Anyone who tried to glomp him would  
slide right off his frictionless shield unless he wanted to be glomped.  
Ranma went to bed elated. "I'm gonna do it! I'm gonna be the best martial  
artist in the world!"

* * *

There was a beauty pageant in Kyoto. Happosai made certain that it wasn't  
dull.

* * *

That brief bit of floating above the ground the day before gave Ranma an  
idea. Herb could fly without any wings, using only his abundant ki. Ranma  
now had more ki than either Herb or Saffron. Why not try to fly?

During his numerous trips through the sky via Akane Airlines, Ranma had  
learned to use brief bursts of ki like rockets to orient his body and  
direct his trajectory a little bit. He could reduce his landing speed by  
using a little more ki at the last moment. Would simply using ki jets  
allow him to take off and fly under his own power? A little  
experimentation showed that it could be done, but it took more ki than he  
wished to expend.

Could he duplicate Herb's flying technique? In less than an hour he could  
fly, but his top speed was only a little faster than he could run. Nice  
try, but not too useful.

How about modifying his Iron Air technique, making the enveloping ki  
travel upwards and taking him with it? Success! He could now fly fast and  
high. Better yet, shaping his outer ki shield into a long slender  
streamlined shape allowed him to break the 'sound barrier' and fly really  
fast without causing shock waves. Ranma was elated.

Flying was a rush. It was better than surfboarding, motorcycle riding, and  
hang gliding combined! The world rushed past him while he skimmed the  
treetops and did loop-de-loops. Ranma finally understood what "carefree as  
a bird" really meant. The hardest part was stopping.

He was also lost. He had flown far enough that he was having trouble  
finding the temporary camp he had been using today. He retraced his path  
as best he could, then cloaked himself in the Umi Sen Ken and rose  
straight up to get a better view. "I think that's it," he said, "remind me  
to take a good look around when I take off so that I can recognize it when  
I try to return."

He landed and looked around his campsite. "Come to think of it, why do I  
need to come back? I don't need my backpack or things anymore, I can make  
what I need when I need it and undo it when I'm done. I'm traveling  
light..." Ranma removed all traces of his occupancy from the site, then  
rose invisibly into the air and flew twenty miles in a random direction.  
"Now let then try to track me!"

* * *

Somewhere in China Pantyhose Taro sat on a hilltop and brooded. Changing  
his awful name was his highest priority, and then perhaps getting his  
revenge upon Ranma Saotome. He began to plan his next trip to Japan.

* * *

As he was setting up his new campsite for the evening Ranma heard  
something that made his skin crawl. "Meow."

He looked around, feeling very nervous. There was a small grey feral cat  
at the edge of his clearing. Ranma reflexively rose six feet into the air.

"What am I doing?" he thought as he fought to hold on to his sanity. "It  
can't possibly hurt me - I have the iron skin technique for protection. In  
fact, _I _ am the most dangerous animal in the neighborhood."

Years of cringing can be a tough habit to break. Ranma gritted his teeth,  
descended to the ground, and slowly, very cautiously approached the  
feline. It was the toughest challenge of his training trip. The cat hissed  
at him once, but it didn't back away. Ranma paused, then continued to  
approach the cat even more slowly. Soon both participants were satisfied  
that the other wasn't about to launch an attack. With a sniff the wild cat  
turned away and walked off into the forest, tail held high.

Ranma was almost disappointed. He wanted to cure his fear of cats, but he  
didn't really want to go through the experience of desensitization (much  
the way most people feel about getting an education). He considered  
following the feline, then rejected that thought. "Maybe next time..."

* * *

"Akane, you look depressed," Nabiki observed.

"Not depressed; thoughtful, I think. Ranma's been gone long enough, and  
things have been quiet enough, that I've had time to discover how I really  
feel about him."

Nabiki raised an eyebrow.

"I definitely have feelings for him; I'm just not sure what they are. I do  
miss him, and I think I might...might even love him," Akane admitted  
reluctantly.

"So you've figured out for yourself what's been obvious to everybody  
else?"

"Am I that dense? Yes, I guess I am! At the same time he makes me so  
mad..."

Nabiki went into wise counselor mode. "Little sister, what you're feeling  
is insecurity - which leads to anger, and affection - which leads to  
jealousy."

Akane sighed. "I suppose you're right, but what can I do about it? Can I  
just tell him how I feel when I'm not even sure myself?"

Nabiki smirked. "Two yen."

"What, only two?"

"Just kidding. First, don't tell him, show him! Actions speak louder than  
words. Second, stop pushing him away. Listen to what he has to say before  
you bash him. Is he really chasing the other girls, or are they chasing  
him? You have to stop letting insecurity and jealousy dictate your  
actions. Think before you act."

Now it was Akane's turn to smirk. "You mean I should act more mature than  
Ranma does?"

"Yes, little sister, he has to grow up too, and this is a particularly  
good time for it."

* * *

It was another sunny morning. Ranma was in a clearing in northern Japan.  
"Today is a good day for the Demon Head technique," he thought. He  
materialized a large mirror propped up by a tree. It took less than half  
an hour to duplicate Soun's "dreaded" manifestation.

"So why stop with only the head and neck?" Ranma soon had illusory demon  
hands, then demon legs, and finally a demon torso. He looked truly scary.

"Now how about improving this further, and going from illusion to real?  
After all, I went from a ki-based hammer to a real one." It didn't take  
long to see the problems that would raise. "The 'demon's' head is above my  
real one; its air tube and food tube would have to pass through my brain.  
Not good. My eyes and ears would be inside the demon's neck...I'd have to  
rewire the demon's eyes and ears to my brain..."

Minutes passed. "Baka! I've been changing from one real form to another  
several times a day for nearly three years now. All I have to do is  
smoothly morph from one form to another. I just need to imitate the way my  
Jusenkyo curse works. I already know how to make matter into ki and ki  
into matter..."

Soon a real, solid, eight-foot-tall demon roamed the Earth for the very  
first time. "This is so neat!" The demon's voice was guttural and  
unintelligible. "So it needs work." Ranma changed back to human male form.  
"Why limit myself to demons?" In a few minutes he morphed into a shaggy  
golden dragon 14 feet long. Asian dragons can fly without wings, and so  
could Ranma. He was soon airborne, looping and twisting just above the  
treetops. "Herb would be so jealous, and Taro would have a fit if they saw  
me now. Whoopee!"

The dragon landed and morphed into Ranma's girl form, complete with girl's  
clothing. "This is even better than my curse - now my clothing fits  
properly." Ranma halted in surprise. In a bemused voice he exclaimed,  
"I've accidentally mastered my curse! All I wanted to do was imitate it,  
but now I can have complete control over it. I can even go into shapes  
that Jusenkyo has no templates for!"

That evening's meal was a banquet of celebration. He concluded it with an  
ice cream sundae while in boy form. Yatta!

* * *

Tatewaki Kuno stormed through the echoing halls of his ornate palatial  
home. "Sasuke! Where the devil is that servant when I need to speak with  
him?"

The diminutive ninja appeared as if by magic. "You called, master?"

"Ah, Sasuke. Tell me, have you seen any sign of that accursed Ranma or my  
pig-tailed goddess recently?"

Sasuke sighed. "As you are well aware, Ranma is away on an extended  
training trip alone. That means he has not taken the red-haired girl with  
him." Sasuke was well aware of Ranma's curse, but had never managed to  
convince either of the Kuno siblings of its reality. "The flame-haired  
goddess has not been seen since Ranma left. Nobody seems to know where she  
is. Perhaps she seeks the company of the missing Ranma?"

"That is not possible," roared Kuno, "I shall forbid it!"

"I don't see how you can prevent it," thought the ninja, "since they are  
one and the same." Aloud, "yes, master."

* * *

Ranma had camped in a narrow strip of land between the base of a cliff and  
a small stream. He was doing his morning katas, only today he was doing  
them about a foot above the ground. It was early, he had broken camp and  
had yet to have breakfast, the sun was shining, and life was good.

Then the inevitable happened. While nobody could trace Ranma, Ryoga's  
utterly random wanderings had brought him within sight of our hero  
strictly by chance. Ryoga had not been present in the dojo when Ranma gave  
his goodbye speech, so he hadn't heard the "leave me alone" declaration.  
Ryoga did not notice that Ranma was floating above the ground. He charged,  
maddened, swinging his deadly umbrella, and yelling, "Ranma, prepare to  
die!"

Ryoga was expecting Ranma to dodge at the last moment before impact -  
that's what he usually did - but instead Ranma merely turned to look at  
him and smirked. The umbrella bounced off something unseen and  
frictionless just before it reached Ranma's body, leaving Ranma unaffected  
and Ryoga fighting to control the umbrella's trajectory, his hand  
stinging.

Ranma stood perfectly still, about nine inches above the ground, and  
watched with mild amusement as Ryoga launched attack after attack against  
him, all futile. Finally, Ranma reached out with one finger. "Bakusai  
tenketsu!" The umbrella exploded into a hundred fragments.

Ryoga ground to a halt in fatigue and frustration. "Now look what you've  
done. I need that umbrella! Ranma, this is all your fault." He brandished  
the useless stub of the handle at his foe. It was only then that he  
noticed that Ranma was ignoring the law of gravity and the police had yet  
to call him out on it.

"You want it, you can have it," answered Ranma. He held out his hand and a  
duplicate of Ryoga's bumbershoot appeared in it. "Here," said Ranma as he  
handed Ryoga the new umbrella.

Ryoga stood there looking dumbly at the new umbrella, then the fragments  
of his old umbrella littering the ground, then at Ranma still floating in  
the air. It began to dawn on him that he was totally outclassed - again!  
"Damn it, Ranma, why do you keep setting impossibly high standards?" It  
was a rhetorical question.

"Maybe it's because I have to contend with the likes of you, Tatewaki,  
Kodachi, Taro, Shampoo, Cologne, Happosai, Herb, Saffron, etc. sometimes  
several at once," answered Ranma.

Saffron! Ryoga remembered that he had just challenged the god-slayer. It  
was a reflex, but not the wisest idea for those who wished to remain  
living. "Point taken, Ranma," Ryoga said as he calmed down. "You have new  
techniques?" he asked, sounding tired.

Ranma nodded.

"Any others you care to show me?"

Ranma said nothing, but he turned into a girl, complete with suitable  
clothing.

"Would you be willing to teach me those?" Ryoga asked, not really  
expecting an affirmative answer.

Ranma surprised him again. "I'd be happy to teach you, old friend. It will  
be hard for you to learn, at least in the beginning, but we'll both be  
happier in the end."

Ryoga was baffled - not that this was anything new. "Why?"

Ranma explained patiently. "The first step is to get rid of that  
depression ki you use and replace it with pure ki - having no emotion.  
Pure ki is hard to make, but it's more powerful than emotion-based ki, so  
you need less. Besides, that depression-based ki is slowly poisoning you."

"Okay, I can see why it's hard for me to learn. What's in it for you?"

"Once you have your emotions under control you'll realize that you have  
nothing to gain by attacking me, and then we can be friends again."

"?" said Ryoga. Loudly.

"Suppose I allowed you to kill me today. How would you feel?"

"Elated, I suppose," Ryoga said, sounding unsure. This was getting into  
unfamiliar mental territory.

"Yes, you'd feel glad for the rest of the day. But tomorrow your life  
wouldn't be any better: you'd still get lost, you'd still turn into a pig,  
and you wouldn't have the driving goal of killing me. Your life would  
suddenly be purposeless. Worse, when anything bad happens to you you'll  
have to find someone else to blame it on because you just can't accept  
that it might be your own fault."

"You make killing you sound like a bad idea," accused Ryoga.

"Just pointing out the obvious. It's amazing what having time to think can  
do to clarify one's mind. On the other hand, if you don't kill me then I  
can teach you to control your Jusenkyo curse."

"Like you just did?"

Ranma nodded. "And then I'd have a sparring partner closer to my own  
level. It's lonely at the top."

Ryoga pondered for a while. It wasn't as if he had anything better to do.  
"Can we start today?"

Ranma spent the rest of the day teaching Ryoga how to purify his ki.  
"Practice this for a few days, but be careful how you use it - it's strong  
stuff. I'll teach you the some more new techniques when we meet again.  
Later." Ranma cloaked himself and flew off into the sunset.

* * *

Out beyond the Oort Cloud, an alien artifact of indeterminate size  
continued to quietly do something incomprehensible. It looked sort of like  
a golden moebius strip with jewels embedded in a sandpaper-like surface  
texture, but you couldn't be sure because trying to focus on it hurt your  
eyes. We need not be too concerned about it, because it does not appear  
again in this story.

* * *

It was an overcast day, which suited Ranma's mood perfectly. Ranma  
considered today's "assignment" with distaste. He was going to imitate,  
then improve upon, Happosai's underwear-stealing techniques. "No way I'm  
gonna turn into a pervert," he thought. "I don't know exactly how he does  
it, but I can think of only two approaches: he could teleport the panties,  
bypassing space and whatever lies in his way, or he can interpenetrate it  
somehow, two solid bodies moving through each other without resistance.  
I'm gonna hafta try it both ways..."

He created a finely-crafted jade urn, and then another one identical to  
the first. Ranma had always wanted to explore his artistic side, but Genma  
wouldn't let him. He placed the copy on the ground about four feet from  
the original. Ranma studied both objects, trying to determine exactly how  
they differed. "Okay, let's try this." He moved the "target" urn out of  
the way, then concentrated his attention of the other one and tried to  
make it similar to the target one before it got moved. At first nothing  
happened. Ranma kept trying, and then with a soft pop the original urn  
vanished and reappeared where the target urn had been. "That wasn't so  
hard," he thought. But, then Ranma looked at his wristwatch and discovered  
that the entire morning had gone by while he was figuring out this  
"simple" technique.

"Okay, let's see what sort of range I can get out of this." He moved the  
target urn eight feet away from the other one and repeated the exercise.  
It was harder to focus at that distance, but eventually he managed it. He  
moved closer to the target object and then teleported it six feet from its  
current position. It was taking longer than he would like to teleport an  
object, but he expected to get faster with practice.

By the time Ranma was satisfied the sun was going down. He decided to end  
his research for the day and have dinner.

The next day Ranma tried the other approach to mastering Happosai's trick.  
He created a silken handkerchief as a stand-in for panties and a square  
piece of felt to simulate clothing. He tried to make the silk  
insubstantial, but didn't really know how to go about it. After two hours  
of trying he could not get the handkerchief to pass through the felt.

"Maybe I should make the felt insubstantial instead." That didn't work  
either. "Okay, how about making them both intangible?" After a few minutes  
the two pieces of cloth passed through each other effortlessly. Ranma  
grinned in satisfaction.

"Now let's see if I can pass it safely through my body." The silk would  
not pass through Ranma's unmodified leg. He did the same thing to his  
thigh as he had done to the felt - quite carefully checking for pain or  
injury. So far so good. Now he could pass the handkerchief through the  
flesh and bone of his upper leg without meeting any resistance.

"It's a nice trick, but I don't see how it's useful for martial arts. It's  
good for perverts, though. Teleportation is more useful in my opinion." He  
spent the remainder of the day exploring and perfecting his two new  
techniques.

* * *

"What is bothering you, mistress?" asked Sasuke. "You haven't been  
yourself these past few weeks."

Kodachi considered. Her ninja servant rarely spoke unless he was invited  
to - should he be punished for expressing concern for her, or was she  
seriously out-of-sorts? Kodachi sighed. "Life seems to have lost its  
sparkle since my beloved took his leave. Tell me, faithful servant, has  
any word of Ranma's whereabouts been heard?"

"Nay, my lady. I would have told you at once if there were any word of a  
sighting."

Kodachi brightened a little as a plan formed. "Then perhaps I should go  
looking for him myself! He must be pining in my absence even as I pine for  
him. Ohohoho!"

Sasuke wondered for the 88th time if there was a school that taught  
demented madwoman laughter.

* * *

Ranma was camped in a clearing in a woody, hilly area. He was doing his  
morning katas when he suddenly stopped. He had felt the faintest  
suggestion that something was not right - not exactly dangerous, but  
anomalous and worthy of attention - and he had learned never to ignore his  
danger sense.

He examined his surroundings visually. Nothing. Ranma extended his ki  
senses. There - a faint sensation of something hiding where there should  
be only empty air. He focused all his attention on the indicated area.  
Yes, there was no mistake; something didn't want to be seen. He made a  
mental note to ensure that no such defect existed in his own invisibility  
techniques. Fully alert now, he called, "You can come out now - I don't  
like being spied on."

There was a ladylike sigh, and a woman faded into view. She appeared to be  
a gaijin, tall and slender, with light brown hair. She was also floating  
two feet above the ground. "I'm sorry to have disturbed you," she said  
politely. "You weren't supposed to know I'm here. I mean you no harm."

Ranma evaluated her quickly. She had a power level that exceeded Saffron's  
together with the ultra-niceness that marked Kasumi Tendo. Probably a  
goddess, Ranma concluded. Par for the course. She didn't appear to be a  
threat, at least not now. "Are you here to marry me or kill me?" he asked.

His visitor was taken aback, but controlled it well. "Oh, no. I'm engaged  
to someone else, and I would never harm you without a very good reason.  
I'm supposed to observe you, that's all, and I mustn't interfere (unless  
it's really necessary). It's our policy not to interact with mortals - you  
have free will, and must be allowed to make your own destiny."

Ranma felt reassured. "So why are you watching me, if you're not supposed  
to interfere?"

"I have to determine if you're a danger, and if you need to be watched  
more closely."

"Danger to what?" asked Ranma, "At my power level I could be vary  
dangerous..."

The goddess was reluctant to go into details. "You have enough power to be  
a danger to the whole world; you could do damage that would be very  
difficult to repair. Fortunately, you have a very strong sense of honor,  
and that should be protection enough." She tactfully refrained from  
mentioning Saffron.

Ranma thought about his past actions. "Yeah, for as long as I can remember  
I've tried to help and not do any harm. It's not something my pop taught  
me, it seems to be my own instinct."

The two of them talked for the entire morning, reviewing Ranma's life and  
how he felt about it. The goddess revealed as little as possible about  
herself, not even her name. Ranma was glad for her company and didn't  
press her for details, except for one question: "Don't you have other  
means of finding out about me without having to visit me in person?"

"We know everything you've done, and everything that's happened to you.  
But, we don't record your thoughts, your feelings, or your motivations.  
Those are most easily determined by watching you in person."

They finished reviewing the highlights of Ranma's life so far - the  
curses, the conflicting demands of honor, and the endless line of new and  
more powerful challengers. The goddess was a sympathetic listener, but  
could contribute no suggestions.

"What I don't understand," muttered Ranma, "is where these ridiculously  
strong martial artists all come from. Why is each one more dangerous than  
the last?"

"That might be your fault indirectly, Ranma," replied the goddess.

Ranma was confused. "How could I do that? I certainly never intended to."

"There seems to be a balancing principle at work in the universe.  
Superheroes breed supervillians of comparable power. Where would Batman be  
without the Joker, or Superman without Luthor?"

Ranma seemed to get it. "Without obstacles to overcome, heroes are just  
ordinary guys. Am I a hero? I always felt I was a victim..."

She smiled sadly yet again. "Remember, that parade of challengers has made  
you what you are today. Without Herb and Saffron you could never have  
become as good as you are now."

Finally, Ranma summarized what was really bothering him the most. "As a  
martial artist, I have no equal. I'm the best there is, and I'm proud of  
it. But, every evening I think about my life and my future. As a man - or  
even as a woman - I'm a complete failure. I have no schooling to speak of,  
a useless father, few friends, if any, and too many fiancees. I don't even  
know anyone who could be considered normal. I've never even seen a couple  
in a normal loving relationship, so I really have no idea what love is.  
How am I supposed to tell whether I love someone?"

The goddess nodded. "I've heard that when you're really in love you stop  
asking what love is. You have some serious concerns there. At least you  
are aware of them and will try to correct these deficiencies."

"You know, I sure could use some normal friends. Do you know of anyone  
who's reasonably normal and well adjusted, friendly, and with a high  
tolerance for weirdness, someone who might become my friend?"

His visitor hesitated - this would go beyond her "don't interfere"  
directive. Finally she shook her head and said, "I'm sorry, I can't help  
you with that."

Ranma thanked her, he hadn't been expecting even that much help. His  
visitor said her goodbyes and teleported away. Ranma sat and pondered -  
what did it signify that the gods were watching over him?

**Author's Notes**

Ranma and Ryoga have a curious love/hate relationship. Ranma doesn't hate  
anyone, of course, but Ryoga will always come to the aid of his rival when  
needed. Yet, Ryoga keeps fooling himself into thinking that he hates  
Ranma. Ryoga should seek professional help...

About the goddess: yes, there will be covert divine influences in this  
story, but they will be minimal. Any resemblance to Oh My Goddess! is  
purely coincidental.  



	3. Four Ranmas

Multiplicity

A Ranma fanfic by Mike Breslau

Disclaimer: You know the drill: better folks than I own the characters that appear in this scribbling.

* * *

"Can't we go back to our village?" asked Shampoo with a sigh. "I miss the  
simple life. I miss my friends..."

Cologne gave her a piercing stare. "I miss them too, but our village is  
primitive and backwards. We have to learn the ways of the modern world, or  
we will not survive. Here we can study the culture of your airen, and  
perhaps learn how to snare him more easily."

"I miss Ranma, Great Grandmother. These outsider ways make me  
uncomfortable, but they make airen feel at home."

"Yes, and our ways make him uncomfortable. We have to make some  
accommodations if we hope to snare your Ranma. His other fiancees are  
already used to Japanese culture; we are not."

Mousse could contain himself no longer. "Are you going to abandon 3,000  
years of Amazon culture just to snare one 'mere male?'"

Cologne replied, "If it were any other male, we would not - and that would  
be a grave mistake. The PRC has tanks, planes, missiles, spy satellites,  
and a huge army. They could obliterate us whenever they get annoyed at us.  
We cannot hide from them forever, nor could our martial arts defeat a  
modern army. Besides, Ranma is not a 'mere male.' He is the most  
remarkable fighter I have encountered in more than 300 years."

Shampoo's eyes sparkled. "Airen is too, too good martial artist. Shampoo's  
heart and mind desire him."

Mousse seethed silently with jealousy. He thought, "There is no way I can  
win Shampoo's heart while Ranma lives. I must strike him down at any  
cost!"

* * *

Two weeks later Ranma had mastered every martial arts technique he had  
ever seen, or even heard of, except one: the Amazon's "Splitting Cat  
Hairs". Perhaps it was the word "cat" in the name that caused him to keep  
postponing it. As usual, he tried first to duplicate the technique as he  
had seen it, and then to improve upon it in some way.

By noon he had managed to create up to four illusary images of himself,  
provided they weren't too far away. It was similar to the "demon head"  
technique, except it required more attention to detail to be convincing.  
Still, Ranma thought it was a piece of cake. He had made solid objects  
starting with ki-based illusions before; perhaps he could do it again.

Disappointment. His ki-into-matter duplicates were solid, and they moved  
as he directed, but slowly. They weren't alive, they had no volition of  
their own; they were puppets or zombies. Ranma had to direct the motions  
of these copies in detail, and he couldn't see what they were seeing. It  
was most unsatisfactory. He had to do better than that.

Ranma paused. He had to be careful here. If he were to create living  
people (for that's what they would be) from his own ki then that would be  
procreation! Worse still, it would be unethical to undo them - that would  
be murder. Or they might undo him! How many Ranmas was he willing to have  
running around? He could just imagine the objections religious zealots  
would throw at him. Shudder!

He went to work, proceeding cautiously and thoughtfully. Several  
approaches were considered and discarded. As the sun was sinking towards  
the horizon, he finally succeeded. Ranma looked around, pride and  
astonishment clearly evident on both of his faces. He had finally improved  
upon the "Splitting Cat Hairs" technique, and now he had two real and  
solid bodies. His one mind was shared equally among both of his bodies -  
he was seeing through two pairs of eyes, with two points of view, and  
similarly all the sensory input of both clones was experienced by just one  
martial artist with one mind, two bodies, and two brains.

* * *

Imagine a wavy "end of extended flashback" sequence here...

* * *

Two weeks later Nabiki Tendo found a note on her desk. "Nabiki: Will be  
returning to Nerima tomorrow. You may prepare, but don't tell anyone  
outside your immediate family. Ranma."

Ku Lon and Ukyo Kuonji found similar notes. The Kunos did not get one.  
That evening there was considerable excitement, speculation, and  
anticipation in three Neriman households.

As Tofu Ono was finishing up his day's paperwork there was a knock on his  
door. "It's me, Ranma. May I come in?"

Dr. Tofu blinked in surprise and hurried to open the door. "Ranma - how  
nice to..." His voice trailed off in confusion. Ranma bowed and entered,  
and entered, and entered, and entered. Tofu chuckled, and then burst out  
laughing. "You just don't seem to be able to do things the way that normal  
people do, Ranma."

One of Ranma's four bodies answered, "Sensei, I just cannot do 'normal.'  
It's one of the few things I can't do." Another body added, "And I haven't  
managed to do 'boring' yet either."

"You'll have to tell me all about it," said the good doctor with a smile.

Ranma gave him a synopsis of all that had happened since Tofu left  
Nerima.

"Fascinating," muttered the doctor, unconsciously doing a Spock  
imitation. "Can you revert to only one body?"

"I can, but it's uncomfortable. Now I have more ki than one body can  
comfortably hold - when there's only one of me I feel like an overstuffed  
sausage, or an overinflated balloon."

Ono nodded. "I never heard of anyone having too much ki before, but then  
I don't think anyone has ever had as much as you do now. You said that all  
your bodies share one mind?"

"Yeah."

Ono chuckled. "Have you ever heard of multiple personality disorder? Some  
doctors believe that more than one personality can sometimes inhabit a  
single body. You seem to have invented multiple body disorder..."

Ranma paused briefly. "Actually, Doc, I may have a little of that  
multiple personality thing too. There seems to be a girl mind and a cat  
mind sharing space in my skulls, but my boy mind is usually in control,"  
Ranma admitted.

"So you're a small society all by yourself?"

Ranma nodded in unison. "Sensei, I'm trying to figure out what I'm going  
to do with the rest of my life. If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you  
some questions."

"Ask away. I was planning to have dinner soon. Would you like to join me?  
We can talk while eating."

"I accept, if you let me furnish the meals." Ranma cleared a space and  
recreated some of Kasumi's cooking from memory. Tofu didn't look  
surprised, but he did appreciate how good the food was.

"Tell me about your life, sensei. What you do, what you like about it,  
what you don't like."

"You don't want much, do you? Planning to follow in my footsteps?"

"Perhaps. Fixing people up is probably better than breaking them, I  
suppose."

They talked late into the night.

* * *

In another universe entirely Nightmare finished consuming the ki of the  
last lifeforms on the last inhabited planet. This whole universe was now  
sterile and barren, just like all the other universes Nightmare had  
visited before. In a billion years life would evolve again wherever it  
could, but Nightmare couldn't wait. It was hungry now! It was time to  
move on. Fortunately, there were a large number of universes awaiting his  
visit...

Like a beehive or an ant colony, Nightmare had a 'group mind'. Each of  
his particles had only primitive instincts and behaviors, yet collectively  
they seemed to act in a more intelligent fashion. It had no sense-of-self,  
because it had no self per se, and thus no sense of self-preservation, but  
it had still managed to survive and grow for many thousands of years.  
Nightmare also had no memory, so it might as well be a newborn...

* * *

Early the next morning, but not too early, one of Ranma's bodies knocked  
on the Neko Han Ten door. Shampoo eagerly opened the door, but something  
about Ranma's posture warned her not to glomp him. She silently led him  
into the restaurant.

Mousse, seeing an opportunity to strike, attacked Ranma from behind with  
a broadsword. There was a sound like a sword striking a slippery fire  
hydrant. Ranma was unaffected and pointedly ignored Mousse.

Cologne appeared. She had a sudden impulse to perform the "crouch of the  
wild tiger," but suppressed it. A matriarch did not bow to any male.  
Ranma, still ignoring Mousse's noisy but futile attacks, greeted her.  
"Good morning, Elder Ku Lon. I trust I am not interrupting anything  
important."

The matriarch stared at him. She had never felt anyone with so much  
power, and this person displayed more maturity and confidence than Ranma  
had ever shown before. This man had slain Saffron when he had only a  
fraction of the power he now possessed. Ranma was obviously tolerating  
Mousse's misbehavior as a demonstration of the futility of attacking him.  
Cologne's internal warning flags went up. She would have to be very  
cautious until she had evaluated Ranma's new relationship to the Amazons.  
"You are always welcome here, Ranma," she said politely.

Shampoo blinked. Great grandmother called her airen "Ranma" and not  
"son-in-law." Something was up.

"Excuse me a minute, Elder," said Ranma. Moving faster than the eye could  
follow he whirled around and grabbed Mousse's sword blade between the  
thumb and index finger of his hand, halting the sword in mid-swing. He  
snapped off the last eight inches of the blade, making it look easy, then  
brought the fragment of the sword to his mouth and bit some off. Ranma  
chewed and swallowed while Mousse looked on in open-mouthed disbelief.

"Shoddy workmanship," announced Ranma, "May I have some mustard, please?"

Cologne boggled at this display, but she gave Ranma a mustard dispenser.  
"How?" she asked.

"Oh, I survived Akane's cooking," explained Ranma flippantly. He spread  
mustard on the rest of the blade fragment and finished eating it, then  
smacked his lips. "Much better."

Mousse was incredulously feeling the broken end of his sword with a  
finger when Ranma pointed a finger at the remainder of the sword. The  
broken weapon burst into flame and was soon consumed, leaving not even an  
ash. Mousse staggered back.

Ranma leaned closer to Mousse's face solemnly warned, "If you ever attack  
me again, duck boy, you'll have to pee sitting down for the rest of your  
life. Get it?" Only Mousse could see that Ranma's eyes were ablaze with  
bright blue flames. Mousse fainted. Ranma gestured and Mousse's body slid  
across the floor coming to rest where it would be out of the way.

Cologne and Shampoo were drawing lessons from this little display.  
Clearly, he was warning them that you mess with Ranma at your own peril.  
It was prudent to be very polite and see what developed.

Ranma addressed Cologne. "Elder, I have come to discuss paying court to  
Shampoo."

Shaampoo squealed, "I'm so happy." She prepared to glomp her airen, but  
Cologne stopped her.

Ranma continued, "Notice what I said. I'm not accepting her Amazon  
marriage, I'm not accepting an engagement. I merely want us to get to know  
each other better, to see how we get along, and to see if getting closer  
is in our best interests."

"I see," said Cologne. It sounded like the best deal she could get under  
the circumstances. Nobody could make this Ranma do anything he didn't want  
to do. "What about your other fiancees?" she asked.

Ranma gave an enigmatic smile. "At this very moment I'm at the Tendo's  
making the same offer to Akane, and at Ucchan's making the same offer to  
Ukyo."

Shampoo was bewildered. Cologne hoped that Rod Serling would pop in and  
explain everything. "What?" they chorused.

Ranma extended his hand. A piece of paper with two phone numbers on it  
appeared. "Give them a call and confirm it. The Tendos are about to call  
you, but you still have time to call them first."

Cologne dialed the first number. "Moshi, moshi...Ah Nabiki, this is  
Cologne...Yes, Ranma told me you were about to call. Is he there? May I  
speak with him, please?" She looked back to confirm that Ranma was still  
in the Neko Hand Ten. "Yes, I see. Thank you. Goodbye."

Cologne dialed the second number. "Ranma, is that you? Ah, you were  
expecting my call. Is Ukyo there? May I speak with her, please? Yes, it's  
very confusing. He's at the Tendo's too...Very well. Goodbye."

"Would somebody please tell me what's going on?" pleaded the matriarch.

"Perhaps I should explain," said another of Ranma's bodies, entering  
through the front door.

Mousse had revived but was playing possum. Upon seeing two Ranmas he  
fainted again. Shampoo was considering joining him in dreamland. Even  
Cologne was looking shaken.

The new arrival explained, "You see, I currently have four bodies; two are  
here, one is at the Tendo's, and the last is at Ucchan's place. There is  
really only one of me - I have one mind, one soul. I also happen to have  
four brains, eight eyes, and forty fingers. Each of my bodies knows and  
feels everything that any of my other bodies knows and feels. Yes, it took  
me a while to learn how to handle this multiplicity, but I think I'm  
getting good at it now."

"Four Ranmas?" exclaimed Shampoo, "Surely I can have one!" She silently  
thought, "or more!"

"That's what I came here to discuss," reminded the Ranma nearest to her.  
"The question is how comfortable are you going to be with a person like  
me? How comfortable can I be with a person like you?"

"You is mighty, mighty warrior," declared Shampoo. "Amazon womens do  
anything to get a husband like you!"

"Even give up the idea that men are weaker than women?" asked Ranma.

Cologne said, "You've single-handedly disproven that notion, Ranma.  
However, it will be hard to change the ingrained habits and customs of our  
entire tribe."

Ranma examined four of his hands. "Single-handedly, Elder?" has asked,  
sounding amused.

Cologne could contain herself no longer. "How _do _ you do that?"

"It's an improvement to your 'splitting cat hairs' technique, Cologne.  
Many of my new techniques are improvements to existing techniques; some of  
them are my own invention."

"Can you teach us any new techniques?" asked Cologne, her Amazon instincts  
kicking in.

"I could teach those that do not require large amounts of ki. I'm not  
going to tell you how I generate so much ki for my own use."

Cologne nodded. It sounded like a good deal. Ranma was being prudent.

The recently arrived Ranma interrupted. "Excuse me, but I'm needed  
somewhere else now." He phazed through the wall like a ghost, then flew  
away at high speed. The Amazons blinked in unison.

"Is there anything that he can't do?" Shampoo wondered aloud.

Ranma asked Shampoo, "How would you feel if I were your husband knowing  
that every time one of my bodies made love to another woman your Ranma  
would know and feel everything? How would you feel about my other bodies  
knowing and feeling it when we made love?"

Shampoo laughed, a delightful sound. "Silly Ranma. In Amazon village it is  
expected that powerful males like yourself take many wives. Usually all  
share one big bed. Sometimes other wives assist in the love-making. Is  
fun, it not a problem."

"Ack!" That was more than Ranma wanted to know. "How would you feel about  
not returning to China except for brief visits, and living here in Japan?"

"For anyone else it would be problem. If you make me your wife, I would  
give up China in a heartbeat. Ranma, I do not love you only because you  
are too, too good fighter. I love you because you are strong and kind and  
honorable and cute and have great butt. No one else can measure up to  
that."

Ranma felt humbled by this declaration of unconditional love.

Cologne spoke up. "Surely, if three of your bodies remained here and one  
went to the village with us, then the Ranma in China would not feel that  
he had left Japan, because he would see and feel what all his Japan-based  
bodies feel."

"I hadn't thought of that," admitted Ranma.

Cologne continued, "Besides, we need you there. The other Amazons won't  
change their ways or modernize their customs on my say-so alone. We need  
your example and your guidance."

"You make a good case, Elder. I shall have to think upon it."

They spoke for many hours. After Ranma left Cologne observed that his mood  
was much better than when he had gone on his training trip almost a year  
ago. The training trip had been good for him. Now Ranma was much more  
powerful, more mature, more self-confident, and potentially even more  
dangerous if angered. It was good news and bad news. She was glad that  
she had not told him that his purified ki was similar, but not identical,  
to the mana that powered the magic of the gods; there's no telling what he  
would have done with that knowledge.

* * *

Earlier that same morning Ukyo was oiling her griddle in preparation for  
the new day. She was excited because her Ranma would be here soon. Konatsu  
was sweeping the floor again - everything had to be perfect today - when  
he saw a pair of black slippers that had Ranma's feet in them. He looked  
up; the rest of Ranma was here too.

"Good morning, Ranma," said the kunoichi politely, "I hadn't heard you  
come in."

"Sneaking up on a kunoichi, now that's pretty good," said Ranma  
good-naturedly.

Naturally, at this point he was glomped by and enthusiastic Ukyo.  
"Ranchan!"

Ranma tolerated the glomp from Ukyo that he would have rebuffed from  
Shampoo. Konatsu was staring at the entry door in confusion - it was still  
locked. More Nerima weirdness.

"We weren't expecting you so soon; your year isn't up for several weeks,"  
Ukyo said. "Was your trip successful?"

Ranma nodded. "I wanted time to train and to think so that I could take  
control of my own life. I've made quite a bit of progress - now nobody can  
tell me what to do!"

That brought Ukyo up short. Was he telling her that he was breaking their  
engagement? "Ranchan...what about us?"

"That's what I came here to discuss. I'd like to have something like a  
normal boy-and-girl relationship, free from prearranged marriages and  
honor agreements, so that I can court you like any other man would. If we  
like each other and are compatible, then we can progress to engagements  
and marriage. Is that okay with you?"

Ukyo looked sad, then tried to hide it. "It's not really okay, Ranma. I've  
dreamed of spending the rest of my life with you. I thought our engagement  
was a done deal. Now you want to back off and go more slowly. Do I mean so  
little to you?"

Ranma looked her in the eyes. "You've been a close friend for over a  
decade, and I don't want to lose that ever. But you're not the person I  
met when I was six, and I'm not even the same person I was last year. I've  
changed. Do either of us want to be married for life to someone we don't  
even know well today? Is that what you want?"

Ukyo was taken aback. "Well, if you put it that way, I guess it makes  
sense. You want us to get to know each other before tying the knot..."

"I know I don't often use the word 'normal,' but that's what I want. I  
want a normal friendship, and a normal courtship, free from pressure and  
prior commitments. I want to get to know you, and for you to really get to  
know me. Is that too much to ask?"

Ukyo managed a brave smile. "The thought of Ranma doing anything normal  
would shock anyone who thinks they know you. I am disappointed, of course,  
but what you suggest makes a lot of sense. I guess I really don't want to  
be 'married for life' to someone I really don't know."

Ranma and Ukyo searched each other's faces. Each found acceptance mixed  
with longing in the other's expression. Konatsu sighed.

Ukyo broke the silence. "I can see that you've changed. You're more  
self-confident, more mature than I remember. And it's obvious that you're  
a lot more powerful too..." She trailed off, unable to frame the question  
that was on her mind.

Ranma decided that a little demonstration was in order. "Would you like me  
to make an okonomiyaki for you?" he asked mischievously.

Ukyo was surprised. "Hey! That's my job!" Then she heard a familiar  
sizzling sound and smelled a delicious aroma. She looked, and found three  
hot 'Ranma Specials" cooking on her cold griddle. A quick check showed  
that the okonomiyaki was indeed hot while the griddle was still cold. When  
she had partially recovered from her shock, she managed to ask, "How?"

Ranma placed the okonomiyaki onto three plates that hadn't existed a  
moment before. He offered one to Konatsu and one to Ukyo before he began  
to eat the third one himself.

"This is quite good," admitted the chef. "Was that magic, or something  
else?"

"I think it's a martial arts ki-based technique. Maybe it _is _  
magic. In either case, I've been eating quite well recently."

"What else can you do?" asked Konatsu enviously.

Ranma floated upwards and sat cross-legged in midair. "Well, let me think.  
I can resist being harmed by melee weapons. I can walk through walls..."

"Is that why the door's still locked?" Konatsu interrupted.

Ranma answered, "Yes. Oh, and one more thing - I can be in four places at  
once."

"Really?" exclaimed Ukyo. It was becoming clear that she didn't really  
know her childhood friend after all. Perhaps he was right about getting to  
know each other again.

"More accurately, I have a variable number of bodies. Currently, I'm most  
comfortable with four bodies. It's hard to explain, but there is only one  
Ranma - one mind, one soul, four bodies, eight hands. Each body feels and  
knows everything that the other bodies do, because there's only one me."

Ukyo stepped back in surprise. "So when I hugged you..."

"My other selves felt it just like this one did," finished Ranma. "It took  
me a while to learn to coordinate and handle all this multiplicity."

"Oh my goodness. So if another girl hugged one of your other bodies..."

"It would feel the same as if she were hugging this body."

Ukyo felt dizzy and sat down. "Can I marry all four of his bodies? Can I  
share my husband? What are the legal implications? And what about Akane?  
Or Shampoo?"

The phone rang. Ranma answered because Ukyo was in no condition to do so.  
"Hello, Cologne." A moment later he turned toward Ukyo. "It's for you."

Ukyo accepted the handset. "Yes, Ranma's here too. I find this very  
confusing. Oh, he's at the Tendos too? Thank you for calling. Goodbye."

"You may want to call the Tendos too," suggested Ranma. "I'm there also."

Ukyo had the number memorized. "Moshi, moshi. Ah, Nabiki - is Ranma there?  
Yes, he's here too and I'm very confused. Thank you. Bye." She turned to  
the nearest Ranma. "Are you making them the same offer that you gave me?"

Ranma nodded, looking sober. "Nabiki is looking into a legal way for me to  
marry several people. I wish her luck. I just hope that at least one of my  
fiancees is a good choice. I don't want to wind up alone, especially after  
the chaos that has marked by life so far."

"You didn't say anything about Kodachi, or any of the others," observed  
Konatsu.

"I may lead an unusual life, Konatsu, but I'm not crazy. I don't want  
anything to do with any of the Kunos."

Konatsu and Ukyo chorused, "Amen!"

Their conversation lasted for a few more hours.

**Author's Notes**

There are other multiple-Ranma fanfics out there.  
This is not one of them.  



	4. Seppuku

Multiplicity

A Ranma fanfic by Mike Breslau

Disclaimer: You know the drill: better folks than I own the characters that appear in this scribbling.

* * *

That same morning Kasumi was in her kitchen preparing for a large feast.  
Ranma was coming soon - good food, and lots of it, would be needed  
sometime today. There was a polite knock on the door. Kasumi hurried to  
answer it; she was almost beaten to the door by Akane.

"Is that Ranma?" thought Nabiki. She hurried downstairs from her bedroom.

Ranma entered with a small bow and a slight smile. "Good morning,  
everyone." He didn't look like someone who had been "roughing it" for  
months - he was clean and neat. He didn't have a backpack. Was he staying  
at a hotel?

Akane stared. She didn't remember Ranma being this good-looking. The dopey  
duo (Soun and Genma) came rushing up, followed closely by Nabiki.

"Boy, are you mph..." Genma suddenly seemed to be unable to continue.  
Genma struggled to unclench his jaw and pry open his lips. Nabiki noticed  
the resemblance to Darth Vader's remote choking technique and prayed that  
it never happened to her. She'd be helpless if she couldn't talk.

"Be quiet, old man," said Ranma resignedly, "I'll let you talk when I need  
you to talk." He addressed Soun. "Mr. Tendo, I have come to discuss paying  
court to your daughter," he said solemnly.

"Yatta!" Soun exclaimed. Genma also tried to make celebratory noises, but  
he was having difficulty.

"Notice what I just said," began Ranma. "Paying court does not mean  
engagement, it is not a proposal of marriage, and I didn't even specify  
which daughter."

Soun sobered up. "What do you mean, Ranma? You are already engaged to  
Akane." Genma stopped struggling with his jaw and listened attentively.

"Akane has never consented to this engagement, she was forced into it. I  
too was forced unwillingly into an arrangement made by two drunken old  
fools before I was even born." Ranma turned to Nabiki. "I don't think this  
'honor pledge' would stand up in a court of law. Isn't that right,  
Nabiki?"

The middle Tendo promptly replied, "I am not a lawyer, but I'm sure it  
wouldn't have any legal standing."

"It's not a matter of contract law, it's a matter of honor!" protested  
Soun loudly.

"Your honor, or mine?" asked Ranma pointedly. "I will never accept  
marriage to a person I hardly know. And judging by the results, neither of  
you 'adults' has the faintest idea of what a good marriage is."

Soun started crying, which didn't surprise anyone. "But...But..." He was  
watching his decades-old dreams go up in smoke - again.

Ranma continued, "I want to 'pay court' to all your daughters so that I  
can get to know them and they can get to know me. Then if one of them and  
I seem to be a good match we can consider getting engaged."

"But you and I already know each other," protested Akane.

"Do we?" replied Ranma. "I insulted and belittled you without ever trying  
to get to know you. I'm sorry for that. You jumped to conclusions and  
never listened to me before malleting me. Do even know who I am or what I  
can do?"

Akane grinned impishly. "Well, you just silenced Genma without much  
effort, something nobody else could do."

Human Genma produced a sign reading "Hey!" Kasumi giggled politely.

Ranma effortlessly sat seiza three feet above the floor. The Tendos  
boggled. Ranma continued, "Kasumi, you seem to be interested in someone  
else. Is that true?"

Kasumi reddened. "Well, I am interested in someone, but he acts so silly.  
I was hoping for a more mature man. I admit I have found you attractive,  
Ranma, and I wouldn't mind if you paid attention to me." She blushed  
further.

"Nabiki, could you live with a man who has no money and needs none?"

Nabiki paused. "Not needing money" was as alien to her thinking as "not  
needing oxygen." She replied, "I don't know. What do you mean?"

Ranma looked thoughtfully at Nabiki, who suddenly found herself clad in a  
tan and brown silken gown of elegant but simple design, with elaborate  
floral embroidery around the waist. She tried to estimate the value of  
this gown and nearly fainted.

Akane and Kasumi approached Nabiki and examined her gown. "Oh look," said  
Akane, "the label reads 'Ranma.' It's very nice. I wish I had one..."

Ranma shrugged. Akane found herself wearing a similar gown in bright  
yellow with dark blue trim. A moment later Kasumi was wearing a gown with  
a light grey top and medium blue skirt.

"Oh my!" exclaimed the three sisters in eerie unison. "Ranma, what became  
of the clothes we were wearing?" asked Kasumi.

"They're upstairs on your beds, cleaned and pressed. Your apron is hanging  
in the kitchen."

Nabiki examined her own gown more closely. "It doesn't have any seams..."  
she wondered aloud.

"It was woven in one piece to fit your body," explained Ranma. Nabiki  
almost fainted.

Genma produced a sign reading, "Dressmaking is not very manly, son!" He  
was promptly attacked by Akane and Kasumi, saving Ranma the bother of  
rebuttal.

"Akane, could you stand living with someone who was so much better than  
you in the martial arts?" asked Ranma. "And in everything else too,"  
silently thought Kasumi.

Akane looked down at the floor, and then answered softly, "I've been  
living with someone who outclassed me ever since you and your 'friends'  
came to Nerima. I don't like it, but I've gotten used to it. Is sitting  
seiza in midair a martial art? I'd like to learn that..."

Before Ranma could answer an inhuman scream of anguish and terror came  
from upstairs. "Aagh! My eyes, my eyes!"

Ranma grinned gleefully. "Oh good, Happosai is home. Let's go check up on  
him. Kasumi, would you go first?"

Kasumi had no idea why she should go first, but she agreed and went  
upstairs. After looking in Happosai's room she realized that "oh my!" just  
wouldn't cut it.

Nabiki had awakened from her introspection and she trailed the others as  
they went upstairs.

Every inch of the floor, walls, and ceiling of Happosai's room had been  
covered with large glossy tasteful playmate-style nude pictures of  
Cologne. Happosai had tried to remove the pictures, but they seemed to be  
invulnerable, protected by a thin film of iron air. Nor could he escape  
from the room via the door or windows, the rigid air wouldn't allow him to  
exit. He couldn't even turn the lights off. It was the perfect hell for a  
man of his predilections.

Kasumi stood near the doorway and kept Soun and Genma from getting a good  
look inside. She didn't think either male parent could stand the sight. It  
was difficult enough for a woman to see it.

"Let me out of here," pleaded Happosai as he pounded on the unyielding air  
in the doorway.

"Maybe later," answered Ranma as he led the others back downstairs.

Genma found he had recovered the power of speech. "Are you just going to  
leave him there?" he asked Ranma.

"I could. He survived sealed in a cave for ten years; he'll be all right.  
Maybe I'll add soundproofing so he can't disturb us."

They were interrupted by another anguished scream from upstairs. "Aargh!  
Where are my silky darlings?"

Ranma grinned evilly. "Happosai has just discovered that every one of his  
stolen panties has been replaced by men's cotton briefs. And each pilfered  
bra has been transformed into two yarmulkes."

Nabiki smiled. Kasumi giggled.

"Yarmulkes?" asked Akane.

"Skullcaps," explained Ranma.

Ranma now addressed all three Tendo sisters. "Now for the most important  
question of all: can any of you live happily with a man who can be in four  
places at the same time? And possibly married to several women?"

Much head-scratching ensued. "What do you mean by that, Ranma?" asked  
Akane.

"There is only one Ranma - one mind, one memory, one soul. But, I  
currently have four bodies and all that goes with them: eight eyes, eight  
hands, and so on. Each of my bodies knows and feels everything that any of  
my other bodies does. I didn't bring all four bodies here to avoid  
freaking you out. Presently, one of my bodies is in the Cat Cafe, another  
is in Ucchan's, and the last is upstairs taking care of Happosai."

"I find that a little hard to believe," observed Nabiki.

Another Ranma came down the stairs. He suggested "Why don't you call them  
and confirm it? Do you know their phone numbers?"

"Unfortunately, I do," muttered Nabiki after looking back and forth  
between the two Ranmas several times. An episode of the Twilight Zone  
would be easier to understand than this situation. She went to the phone  
and dialed the Neko Han Ten. "Hello, Cologne. Is Ranma there? Yes, he's  
here too - twice! May I speak with him? Thanks." She spoke with Ranma on  
the phone while keeping her eyes on the local Ranmas. Soon after she had  
hung up the telephone rang. Nabiki answered it. "Hello Ukyo. Yes, he's  
here too. Okay, may I speak with him?" She looked dazed when she hung up.

"Okay, give, Saotome," commanded Nabiki. "What are you doing? Why? And  
what do you hope to gain from it?"

One of the Ranmas answered at length. "You see, I spent much of the time  
on my training trip reproducing and then improving upon every martial arts  
technique I had ever seen, or even heard of. For example, Herb can fly,  
and now so can I." His body morphed into a frightful demon. "Behold Soun's  
demon head technique, improved." His audience backed up quickly. The demon  
morphed into Ranko. "I had to copy some elements of my Jusenkyo curse to  
make the demon solid instead of illusionary. Now I have limited control  
over my curse. It's not cured; it's just tamed. I reluctantly improved  
upon Happosai's techniques..." Ranma exhibited his father's underwear -  
while six feet away from Genma.

Genma made a quick check and protested indignantly, "Hey! Show some  
respect, Son."

"Earn some respect, Pop," Ranma responded. She tossed the garments to  
Genma, who scuttled away. "Nabiki, I needed to become powerful enough to  
control the entire Wrecking Crew if need be. I think I've done that. The  
Amazons assure me that they know of no one near my level in the last 3,000  
years. It irks them no end that I consider myself a male."

Kasumi giggled. It was the female Ranma who had just declared herself a  
male.

The male Ranma continued the explanation. "Now the question is what am I  
going to do with the rest of my life? Will I marry one woman, four women,  
or none? Can I catch up on my education and learn all the things my father  
prevented me from learning? Just learning all the kanji is hard  
enough...Do I have any aptitudes besides martial arts? I could probably be  
a good dancer, or perhaps a doctor...There are so many things I don't know  
- it's frightening."

"What about being in four places at once?" asked Nabiki pointedly. "What's  
up with that?"

Female Ranma explained, "I wanted to improve upon the Amazon's 'splitting  
cat hairs' technique by making several real, independent copies of myself.  
I considered various ways of doing that. For example, I could simply  
reproduce myself, memories and all. But, if I did that then I couldn't  
undo any of the created Ranmas - that would be murder. Frankly, the idea  
was sort of unethical. The simplest way was to go back in time: live 10  
minutes here, go back 10 minutes, live 10 minutes there, and repeat as  
needed. There are two problems with this approach: I could create  
paradoxes, which would be a bad thing, and the other is that I don't know  
how to time-travel yet. After much thought, I came up with the method you  
see before you - and it worked better than I expected."

Akane sighed. "You know, I don't think I'll ever be as good as you are at  
martial arts. Sometimes I envy you, Ranma."

Male Ranma replied, "Sometimes I envy you, Akane. You have something  
resembling a normal life, you have friends and admirers, you have a loving  
family. You didn't go on a ten-year training trip, filled with hundreds of  
painful and hazardous 'training methods' of the craziest sort. The Neko  
Ken was only one of Pop's many stupid ideas." He addressed his father.  
"Pop, do you want to tell them about the wolves and the couch, or the  
rocks and the cliff, or the hornets nests, or the lead weights and the  
waterfall, or..."

Genma hurriedly interrupted to cut him off. "A martial artist's life is  
fraught with peril, Ranma. You wouldn't be what you are today without my  
training!"

Ranma replied hotly, "Your so called 'training' could have and should have  
left me dead many times over, Pop! By my count, there were more than 2,000  
times when I should have been badly crippled or lost limbs, and hundreds  
of times when I should have died. You'd be childless now if I weren't so  
damn lucky and good at the Art!"

Nabiki was an expert on probabilities. She looked skeptical and made a  
"time out" hand signal. "Come off it, Ranma, that's impossible. If things  
were as bad as you claim, then the probability of your surviving is close  
to zero. Are you sure you have your facts right?"

Ranma paused to consider Nabiki's observation. His eyes grew wide.  
Finally, he said, "I do have my facts right, Nabiki. Someday we'll have to  
get Genma to confess everything. You're right, I shouldn't be alive and  
healthy today. Unless..." Ranma looked thoughtful. "Unless something or  
someone was protecting me for the entire training trip. If a kami or  
guardian angel took a particular interest in me..."

"Why would a kami look after the welfare of a young child?" asked Nabiki.

Ranma looked solemn. "The only reason I c'n think of is that they were  
saving me because they need a hero for some tough job that nobody else  
could do. That's a scary thought."

"There's one other possibility," suggested the other Ranma. "If someday I  
learn how to time-travel, then _I _ am uniquely qualified to protect  
my younger self from harm."

Nabiki shuddered. "I don't like either of those possibilities. You might  
be being groomed to fight something that would make Saffron look like a  
piece of cake. It would be even worse if you learned time-travel. Power  
corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Akane whimsically suggested "Maybe Ranma will become the superhuman evil  
that he's being groomed to fight. Now that there are several of him, it's  
a real possibility!"

Ranma shook his heads. "There's only one of me, not several." He refrained  
from mentioning his encounter with the goddess. He'd gotten the impression  
that humans were not supposed to know that deities were walking the Earth,  
and besides, that encounter would not clarify the situation. Gods were  
watching over him at least some of the time, but since they wouldn't  
interfere they wouldn't protect him either. Or would they? Was his  
remarkable healing ability natural or supernatural? Perhaps 'his' goddess  
was merely an observer and other deities had protected him in the past. He  
felt a chill of apprehension. If the gods were interfering to protect his  
younger self that would mean he had a vitally important challenge in his  
future.

Kasumi winced, then shook her head. "I suspect Ranma might not be a  
suitable match for any of the girls he knows. We're all human; he's become  
a demigod. If he married one of us, then we'd be so outclassed that it  
isn't funny. Ranma, perhaps you should court a kami."

Ranma shook his heads again. "Kami are hard to find. If you girls won't be  
my mates, I'd like it if you'd at least be my friends."

* * *

That same afternoon there was a knock at the door of the Saotome home.  
Nodoka opened the door. "Ranma, what a pleasant surprise! Do come in." She  
led the way into the living room. "We weren't expecting you for a few  
weeks yet. Was your training trip successful?"

"Very successful. I've mastered many martial arts techniques, and even  
invented a few new ones."

Nodoka paused. "Yet you don't sound very happy, my son."

"I'm not. I've had months to train and think, without interruptions or  
distractions. During the day it's okay; I work on my martial arts, and I  
love it. At night I have time to think about my life, and I don't like it  
at all. I realize that there are so many things that I don't know that  
people my age are expected to know. There are so many things I haven't  
done that other young men have done. I don't know what I want to do with  
the rest of my life, or who I'll marry."

"Ranma, everybody who is your age has those same problems. Late teens are  
the times for figuring out who you are, what you want to do, and who  
you'll pair up with. It's natural for you to be concerned."

Ranma appeared to change the subject. "Mom, do you want me to be manly?"

Icy fear gripped Nodoka's heart. "Yes, Ranma, it's important to me that  
you are manly," she replied stiffly.

"You've never explained to me what your idea of 'manly' is, so I can't  
tell if you'll approve of me or not. What is manly, mom?"

Nodoka's apprehension grew. "Well, that's kind of heard to explain..."

"So you'll know it when you see it. Okay. Is Genma manly enough for you?"

"My husband is a big disappointment! He shirks responsibility, he drinks  
too much, he cheats at shogi, and he hasn't been 'manly' with me since you  
were born." Nodoka tried hard not to cry. Why was this so hard?

"Is Soun manly then?"

"No, Soun is a spineless failure. He isn't good for anything except  
watering the lawn!"

"You got that right," thought Ranma. Aloud, "Is Happosai manly?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Happy is a pervert. He is an excellent martial  
artist and otherwise a source of shame and anger. Happosai only thinks he  
is manly."

"You're not making this easy, Mother. Can a woman be manly? A tomboy  
perhaps?"

Nodoka's voice grew cold. "Of course not. Women should be feminine; men  
must be manly! Where are you going, Ranma?"

"Is Ranko Tendo manly enough for you, Mother?"

Now Nodoka was blindsided by Ranma's change in direction. "Ranko is too  
manly for a girl, and not manly enough for a man."

Ranma took a deep breath to calm himself. "Mother, I am Ranko Tendo."

Nodoka's hand went to the bundle she always carried. "What?"

"Sit down, Mother, this may take a while, and you won't like it." Ranma  
explained in detail how Genma 'trained' him, and how it affected his life.  
He demonstrated his Jusenkyo curse using glasses of hot and cold water  
fetched from the kitchen. He did not cover the results of his most recent  
training trip. Nodoka sat immobile, listening intently as her world  
crumbled around her.

Nodoka finally spoke, her voice quiet and controlled. "Ranma, are you  
prepared to fulfill the contract you made a dozen years ago?"

Ranma looked her in the eye and replied seriously, "If I complete the  
pledge I made when I was only six and didn't understand what I was doing,  
will you swear on your honor to destroy the contract, absolve me of all  
honor obligations, and judge me sufficiently 'manly'?"

"I do so swear," said Nodoka very quietly. Her heart was breaking, but  
honor was honor and duty was duty.

"Very well," said Ranma, "I will do as you desire. Let's go out back. You  
can be my second."

When they arrived in the back yard Nodoka was surprised to see that  
arrangements had already been completed; evidently Ranma was expecting  
this outcome. There was a large white cloth spread on the ground, topped  
with a small pad and writing instruments, a gleaming tanto, a glass of  
sake, and a small mound of salt. She was surprised to see Ranma dressed in  
immaculate white robes; she hadn't noticed him changing his clothes.  
Nodoka unwrapped her sword and withdrew her honor blade from its sheath  
and held it ready.

Without hesitation Ranma knelt down and picked up the ink brush. He wrote,  
"Is this honorable enough to please you? Am I manly now?" He picked up the  
tanto and looked his mother in the eye. Nodoka thought Ranma looked  
disappointed; whether with himself or with her she could not be sure.

Bowing his head, Ranma picked up the tanto and slit his belly open to end  
his life in the prescribed ritual manner. Inwardly shaken but outwardly  
controlled, Nodoka cut off his head with her honor blade to shorten his  
final suffering. Ranma's head dropped to the cloth and rolled away  
slightly, dripping blood.

Nodoka stood, as cold as an icicle. She resolved to follow Ranma to the  
afterlife, but not until she had dealt properly with Genma. Turning  
slowly, she walked back into her now-empty home.

* * *

Wanda the wonder wombat looked around her nest in great confusion. It was  
a very nice nest, with a great view of the Australian landscape, and it  
was hers. The problem was that, with the exception of Wanda, wombats do  
not make nests - they live in underground burrows. No wonder she was  
confused.

Wombats are similar to Ranma's father in many respects. They are pudgy and  
lazy, but they are very strong and can move quickly when required. They  
are clever and playful. Wombats, like Genma, are generally solitary and  
shun crowds once they reach adulthood. Too bad there wasn't a spring of  
drowned wombat.

Wanda, despite her specie's name, had no womb, nor was she related to  
bats. No wonder she was confused. Wanda does not appear again in this  
story. Pity that.

**Author's Notes**

In the next chapter Ranma explains why he hadn't told Nodoka that he  
wouldn't stay dead. It's hard on her, but she deserves it (in my opinion).  



	5. Showing Off

Multiplicity

A Ranma fanfic by Mike Breslau

Disclaimer: You know the drill: better folks than I own the characters that appear in this scribbling.

* * *

The next morning Nodoka went to visit the Tendos. The sky was overcast and  
gloomy, which suited her mood perfectly. Kasumi opened the door just  
before Nodoka could knock.

"Good morning, Auntie," said Kasumi brightly, "Ranma told us that you were  
coming over."

A shiver ran down Nodoka's spine. The Tendos were waiting for her. They  
looked happy, not sad. Weren't they aware that Ranma had died? "Good  
morning to you, Kasumi, Soun." She walked slowly into the living room. All  
of the Tendos were there. "I am afraid that I bring sad news. Yesterday  
Ranma fulfilled the contract he signed when he was six years old, and has  
committed ritual suicide. His final wish was that I absolve him from all  
engagements and obligations of honor. I have freed him as he requested."  
With great effort she resisted breaking into tears.

The mood of the Tendos seemed unaffected, almost as if they hadn't heard  
her. Kasumi spoke sympathetically, "That must have been quite stressful  
for you. How do you feel about it?"

Nodoka thought and replied, "Proud that he didn't shirk his  
responsibilities, sad that I have lost my only child, sorry that he didn't  
turn out manly enough, angry at Genma for not raising Ranma properly..."

"We think Ranma is more than manly enough," answered Kasumi, turning to  
the others she asked, "Don't you agree?" Everyone but Nodoka nodded. "Do  
you regret holding Ranma to his contract?" asked Kasumi softly.

Nodoka drew herself up ramrod-straight. "Honor is the most important thing  
in the world to me - honor is what makes everything else in life possible.  
Sometimes you just have to take the good with the bad."

Nabiki spoke up. "I don't think you knew Ranma as well as you thought you  
did, Auntie. We all underestimated him, and didn't realize what a prize he  
was. For example, I classified him as a 'dumb jock,' and wow, was I ever  
wrong!"

Now Akane chimed in. "Ranma is beyond amazing, Auntie. 'Unique' and  
'incredible' doesn't begin to cover it. I used to accuse him of being a  
pervert and a two-timing womanizer. I was wrong, and I regret my  
mistakes."

"Why are you all speaking in the present tense?" asked Nodoka. "He's  
dead!" She began to tear up, but would not allow herself to cry.

"Do you wish Ranma was still alive?" asked Kasumi gently.

"I wish he hadn't disappointed me so that I'd have to hold him to his  
contract. Yes, I do wish things were otherwise and my child was alive and  
well."

Kasumi responded, "Perhaps you should sit down, Saotome-san. You see,  
Ranma wouldn't let something as insignificant as dying get in his way.  
Yes, he killed himself yesterday, but he is alive and well today. Are you  
prepared to meet him again?"

Nodoka sat in a state of shock and confusion. Finally, she nodded.

Ranma walked out of the kitchen with a smile on his lips and a twinkle in  
his eye. "Good morning, Mother. I hope you are well."

Nodoka fainted.

"That went well," observed Nabiki wryly.

Ranma caused Nodoka's body to float across the room and settle comfortably  
on the couch. They all waited for her to revive.

Nodoka stirred. "I just had a strange dream..."

"No dream, Mother. I am here, alive, and well." Ranma's voice sounded  
amused.

Nodoka sat upright. Sounding almost angry, she asked, "Did you fake your  
death yesterday, Son?"

"No, Mother, I really died last night, and it really hurt too. But, it  
didn't hurt as much as believing I had failed to live up to your  
expectations."

Nodoka was experiencing cognitive dissonance. "How can you be alive and  
dead at the same time?"

Ranma sat down comfortably, floating two feet above the floor. Nodoka's  
eyes bulged. "I didn't explain everything that happened on my recent  
training trip. I used the time to reinvent and improve upon every martial  
arts technique that I had ever heard of. For instance, Herb can fly using  
his ki, and now I can fly better than he can. I killed Saffron, and he  
came back from the dead..."

Nodoka felt dizzy. "You're immortal?" she gasped.

"Only if I wanna be," confessed Ranma.

Nodoka thought of someone else who was said to have returned from the  
dead. "So, can you walk on water too?"

Ranma smiled at the memory. "Mother, I have danced on water! It was a  
glorious feeling." He paused, then continued, "I have begun to master my  
fear of cats and come to terms with the nekoken. I have tamed, but not  
cured, my Jusenkyo curse, and adapted it to my own use. Watch this!"

He dropped to all fours as his body grew and morphed. Ranma was now a roan  
pony, with intermixed black and red hairs in his fur. The effect was  
exotic, but quite handsome. "Behold the wild horse," said the pony.

Nodoka fainted.

"Oh my!" said Kasumi, hoping that he didn't shed or otherwise make a mess.

Ranma morphed back to his male human form and helped his mother revive.

"Ooh...I hope you don't have any more shocks in store, Ranma," moaned  
Nodoka.

Nabiki grinned her "I've got a secret" smile.

"Oh, I've saved the biggest one for last, but we can wait a while if  
you're not feeling up to it yet," answered Ranma.

"Worse than turning into a horse?" asked Nodoka. She looked at the  
expressions on the faces of the others and knew that a really big secret  
awaited her. She steeled herself. "Okay, I'm ready now..."

The Ranma in the living room began, "You see, the Amazons have a ki  
technique that permits them to create illusionary copies of themselves..."

A Ranma came down the stairs saying, "But my improved technique creates  
real, solid copies of myself..."

A Ranma came in the front door and added, "All my copies can move and  
think independently..."

Another Ranma phazed through the living room wall and concluded, "There is  
still only one mind among us. We can all know and experience everything  
any of my other copies does."

Nodoka was too stunned to even consider fainting. She sat there like a  
statue, her mind evidently locked in a tight loop. After a minute her  
eyes began to blink rapidly.

The four Ranmas chorused, "I think I can claim to be four times more manly  
than anyone else, Mother."

Dazed, Nodoka could only nod her head. Kasumi quietly brought her a cup of  
calming tea. Everyone waited politely. Finally, Nodoka asked, "Why didn't  
you tell me all this yesterday, Son? Why did you put me through the trauma  
of cutting off your head?"

"First, I had to demonstrate that I was honorable enough to uphold my end  
of the contract even though it was stupid," said one of the Ranmas.

"Second, I wanted to get rid of the contract, the multiple engagements,  
and all the other entanglements I was ensnared in," said another.

Nodoka nodded and finished her tea. Her hand was trembling, but she  
managed to not spill a drop.

Three of the Ranmas left to attend to other business. The forth took a  
deep breath and began, "Mother, I heard what you said about honor, and I  
have to respectfully disagree."

Nodoka was ramrod straight in an instant. "What do you mean?" she asked  
icily.

"Do you agree that only Kami-sama is perfect; you and I are human and  
therefore imperfect?"

That was self-evidently true. Nodoka nodded.

"Only Kami-sama is capable of the ultimate and absolute knowledge; you and  
I are too limited to have the ultimate knowing. Our minds are too weak to  
know what He knows."

That was also self-evident, but slightly disturbing.

"Now Kami-sama has given us mortals freewill, for reasons which we cannot  
know, but it must be very important to Him. This includes giving us the  
possibility of error, the ability to make mistakes."

Nodoka had to agree. She didn't like where this was going.

"Therefore, being human, we do not have the comfort of absolute knowledge,  
and we do have the freedom to make errors. It follows that we must always  
keep in mind that we are not infallible; that even the things we are most  
certain of may not be entirely true. Mother, while I consider honor to be  
quite important, I must reject your absolutist view of honor. In fact, I  
have to reject all absolutist dogmas."

Nodoka could find no rebuttal. "But..." She fell silent.

Ranma drove the point home. "Shampoo comes from a culture that is even  
more strict about honor than we are. Her honor requires me to be her  
husband; my honor required me to be engaged to Akane. Is Amazon honor less  
important than Japanese honor because she is a foreigner here? If so, what  
happens to my honor when I visit China? What happens when honor conflicts  
with honor?"

Nodoka had no reply. The foundations of her world view had just been  
shaken by her returned-from-the-dead, impossibly accomplished, child.  
Finally, she softly said, "I will have to think about this."

After her visit to the Tendos Nodoka was given a ride home riding bareback  
on a flying roan Pegasus. It was a unique and exhilarating experience.

* * *

The next morning Ranma, dressed in a proper school uniform, went to  
Furinkan High School. His old classmates were all seniors now; almost all  
the former senior class had graduated. Unfortunately, Tatewaki Kuno was  
still outside the school waving his boken and harassing the other  
students. Ranma had thought long and hard about how to handle Kuno. Ranma  
didn't want to battle any ordinary martial artists; he would have trouble  
holding back enough to avoid killing them. Simply hitting Kuno, no matter  
how hard, wouldn't do any good. Further, any display of extraordinary  
talent would just reinforce Kuno's belief that he was a "foul sorcerer."

When Kuno challenged him Ranma merely stopped and smiled. Ignoring the  
delusional kendoist, Ranma produced four brightly colored balls and began  
to juggle. Every time Tatewaki swung his sword Ranma managed to dodge it,  
making his moves look like part of his juggling routine instead of a  
martial art maneuver. Kuno was furious at being ignored; he struck faster  
and faster with mounting fury - and was studiously ignored. Ranma produced  
two more balls and continued juggling.

When Kuno tried a low sweep aimed at Ranma's legs he found his boken  
trapped underneath Ranma's heel. Ranma seemed to be unaware of what he had  
done - it was all part of his juggling routine - in fact, he wasn't even  
looking at Kuno. When the warning bell rang Ranma ended his performance.  
He tossed a green ball to Tatewaki, caused the other balls to vanish, and  
went into the school. Kuno stood there seething, furious that his hated  
foe considered him too insignificant to even look at. It was only later  
that he noticed that his ball bore the inscription, "you lose."

Ignoring the gawking of the students who knew him, Ranma went to the  
administrative offices. He told the clerk who greeted him that he wanted  
to return to taking classes. The clerk looked disturbed and directed him  
to the vice-principal.

"That would be a problem," said the vice-principal. "Your classmates are  
seniors now; you have missed nearly a year and would have to be moved into  
the current junior class. Actually, it might be better for you to wait for  
the next term to begin and then join next year's junior class. You'll have  
to talk to the principal to make such an arrangement."

"That's okay, I'm in no rush," replied Ranma. After all, he had all the  
time in the world. "By the way, why is Tatewaki still here? Shouldn't he  
have graduated by now?"

The vice-principal made a sour face. "Mr. Kuno's academic performance did  
not warrant his graduation."

Ranma thanked him and knocked on the door of the principal's office.

"What are you doing here, keiki?" asked Principal Kuno gruffly, "I'd  
thought we were rid of you."

"I want to return to class and complete my education," replied Ranma  
blandly.

"No can do," said the principal. "You've missed too much school and caused  
too much trouble."

"I was thinking of joining next year's junior class when the new term  
begins, and until then I'd like to use the school library for self-study,  
if that's okay with you. I'll try not to cause any trouble."

The coco-nut leaned forward. "Are you tellin' me that you, Ranma Saotome,  
who sleeps through class when he's not causin' trouble, actually want an  
education?"

"Yes. Here I am at the doorstep of adulthood, and I realized that my  
education is sorely lacking. It's not my fault; I blame my Pop who is also  
responsible for much of the trouble that I get into. I want to do better."

The principal leaned back in his chair. "Haw haw. Hmm. You'd be two years  
older than your classmates, an' you have a reputation. It won't be easy."

Ranma morphed into a mousy young female student with the proper girl's  
uniform. "I could enroll under a false name, if you'd let my records  
appear under my real name at graduation. None of the students would know  
it's me."

Principal Kuno collected his jaw back from the desktop. "How you do dat?"

"Remember my Jusenkyo curse? I've tamed it now - no more unpleasant  
surprises. That's part of the reason I think I can avoid making trouble."

"Awright, wahini, I'm willing to give it a try. What name do you propose  
to use?"

"How about 'Kitti Kato?'" asked Ranma. She tried to put on a slightly  
feline expression.

The principal slammed his fist on the table. "Done. You'll start next  
semester as a junior, and you can use the library till then as long as you  
keep out of trouble." He tossed a pineapple to the disguised Ranma.  
"Here's a token of my appreciation, wahini. Heh."

Ranma quickly ate the pineapple, rind, leaves, and all. Then she burped.  
"Excuse me," she muttered.

The principal gawked until the little palm tree on his head exploded.

Ranma morphed back to his original form and left, smiling.

* * *

In another universe Nightmare had encountered a society of warrior/priests  
who chose to resist him. Nightmare was not worried - indeed, he lacked the  
capacity to worry - the fact that he was still alive was proof enough that  
he had always triumphed in the past. Besides, the taste of fear in the ki  
of his victims was so delicious. Ordinary ki was merely nutrition,  
terrified ki was a real treat for such as he.

* * *

As he was leaving the school Ranma was attacked again by the True Blunder.  
"Vile miscreant, thou shall not escape my wrath. I strike!"

Ranma yawned, still evading Kuno's blows without seeming to move. "You  
need a new speech writer, Kuno. You're getting boring and predictable."

"Die!" commanded the enraged kendoist, redoubling his attack.

Ranma lazily waved his hand. Kuno's sword, and all his clothing too,  
vanished leaving Tatewaki clad only in a pink bra and panties with a  
"Hello Kitty" logo. Ranma smirked and whistled, then walked away  
calmly.

For once Tatewaki was speechless. He stood there paralyzed with  
embarrassment and tried to cover himself.

"Kick a fool and he'll come back for more. Humiliate him and he'll be more  
circumspect in the future," mused Ranma.

* * *

Later at the Kuno mansion, after Tatewaki had been rescued by his faithful  
ninja, there was a rare conflict brewing. Sasuke was refusing a direct  
order - that was unheard-of!

"I said, go to the basement and bring me the Musashi sword," Tatewaki  
insisted.

Sasuke would not budge. "That sword is much too dangerous, Master - it  
will eat your very soul! My grandfather swore he would protect your  
grandfather and all his descendants, and I am bound by that oath. I will  
not give you a weapon that will destroy you!"

"Then I'll go fetch it myself," insisted Kuno.

Sasuke attempted to restrain him. "You mustn't, Master. Desist in this  
foolishness, and use your head..."

Kuno struck his servant. "Unhand me, knave. My cause is just, and you must  
not delay me." He hurried away and ran down the stairs.

In a dusty corner of the basement, Tatewaki carefully unlocked a sealed  
and booby-trapped oaken door. The chamber beyond was dark and foreboding -  
no light, however bright, would shine far through the gloom. A giant  
spiderweb blocked his way; Kuno brushed it aside with a boken. Tatewaki  
found the secure safe he sought in a corner, surrounded by spirit wards.  
Removing the seals, he opened the safe and withdrew a plain-looking katana  
that seemed to emit a malevolent dim flickering orange glow. Kuno chuckled  
triumphally, not realizing how demented his laughter sounded. He ignored  
the slight burning sensation wherever the weapon made contact with his  
skin.

* * *

Ranma was having another after-hours conversation with Dr. Tofu. "Can you  
tell me, Sensei, what do women want?"

Tofu laughed. "That is one of the world's most famous unanswered  
questions, Ranma. Even a woman couldn't answer it!"

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Really? Why not?"

"Because much of what a woman wants is outside her awareness, which means  
that it's unknown to her."

"..." said Ranma. Loudly.

Tofu continued, "I can't answer the question, but I can give you the tools  
to understand and approach an answer. Ranma, much of the behavior of  
women, and of men for that matter, is motivated by the need for  
reproductive success. That means more than just having children - it means  
having offspring who are healthy and successful enough to have  
grandchildren and great grandchildren. If it were not so, there would soon  
be no more people."

"You're telling me that even women who say they don't want children really  
want to have kids and don't know it?"

The doctor answered obliquely, "Consider an earthworm. It does whatever it  
has to do in order to make more earthworms. Or consider a pine tree - it  
does whatever it can to make more pine trees. Do you think that the worm  
or the tree knows that it wants to reproduce? You don't even need to have  
a mind to feel this drive. You and I have this essential drive too,  
whether we know it or not."

Tofu continued, "For humans, reproductive success means much more than  
becoming pregnant and giving birth. Of all the species on Earth, only  
humans need 16 to 20 years of education to become a successful adults and  
parents. A woman needs a healthy and dependable mate - healthy to give her  
strong babies; dependable to support her while she has her hands full  
taking care of the kids for 20 years."

"So women want strong and dependable men? Why are so many of them after  
me? Sure, I'm strong, but am I dependable with the life I lead?"

"Oh yes, you're dependable. You're kind and caring, your sense of honor is  
strong, and you always try to do the right thing. Why if I were ten years  
younger and female, I would chase you myself."

"Don't go there, Doc," replied Ranma hastily.

Tofu laughed. "Relax, Ranma, my heart belongs to another. There's more to  
the story, though. A woman has approximately 400 opportunities to become  
pregnant in her entire lifetime, then it's all over. In contrast, a man  
produces enough sperm in his lifetime to impregnate every woman on Earth.  
Can you see what that implies?"

Ranma thought "I guess that explains Hiroshi and Daisuke." Aloud, he  
replied, "I guess it would mean a girl is selective about whom she beds,  
while a guy would have the urge to make it with every girl he could.  
Doesn't that conflict with the 'dependable mate' part?"

"Yes, it does conflict. Biologically a man wants to be promiscuous; by  
training and culture a man is taught to stay faithful to his wife or  
wives. Often, that faithfulness fails and causes much unhappiness.  
Remember, sometimes women are also unfaithful if their men don't take  
proper care of them."

"You make it sound as if everything revolves around reproduction, Sensei."

Tofu nodded. "To a great degree, it does. Men pursue wealth and power  
because those things are attractive to women. Women strive for beauty  
because it attracts men. You try to be the best martial artist because  
that would make you the alpha male, and then you would attract lots of  
mates."

Ranma observed, "The Amazons care a lot about strong husbands, but they  
don't seem to value 'dependability.'"

"The Amazons are an anomaly. They suppress males and keep them tightly  
controlled in their matriarchal society. They enforce dependability. It's  
a model that hasn't been successful for anyone else."

"Yeah, it's usually the women who are controlled and suppressed. Why is  
that? Is it just because men are usually stronger? It's unfair!"

Tofu steepled his fingers. "When a baby is born everybody knows who its  
mother is. Without a DNA test, which wasn't possible until recently,  
nobody can be sure who the father is. Indeed, if a woman was promiscuous  
even she can't tell who the father is! A man does not want to support and  
raise another man's child, so he tries to control his women to reduce the  
chances of extramarital sex."

"Okay, I can understand that, even if I don't approve. Wouldn't a grownup  
successful man want a wife who was as mature and capable as he is? I want  
a wife who's my equal, and I fear there may not be any..."

Tofu smiled. "Well, that's a sign of maturity, Ranma. As for finding a  
wife or wives who are at your level, well, that's an exercise left for the  
student."

"Thanks, Sensei. You've given me a lot to think about."

**Author's Notes**

As I have mentioned elsewhere, I can't believe that Ranma is as stupid as  
he often seems to be. He is woefully ignorant thanks to Genma's malodorous  
upbring, but it takes real brains to do some of the things Ranma has done  
(such as inventing new techniques on the fly.) In this story Ranma has  
extra brains to think with...

As you may have noticed, I don't post stories until they are finished.  
I don't want to leave my readers hanging...


	6. Sword

Multiplicity

A Ranma fanfic by Mike Breslau

Disclaimer: You know the drill: better folks than I own the characters that appear in this scribbling.

* * *

The next morning dawned grey and overcast. Tatewaki appeared in front of  
the Tendo home bellowing a challenge. "Ranma, come out and fight, if you  
dare!" His challenge was free from the usual flowery embellishments that  
Kuno usually used.

Ranma appeared looking bored and disheveled. "Keep it down, Kuno,  
civilized people are trying to sleep." He had no reason to worry about  
Kuno - Ranma had always beaten Tatewaki easily before and the "iron air"  
armor had never failed to protect him.

For once Tatewaki said not a word, but swiftly attacked with his enchanted  
sword. To Ranma's senses the weapon radiated power and evil intent. Ranma  
went on the alert - this could be bad news. Kuno was moving twice as fast  
as he ever had before - and he had been fast to begin with.

Ranma ducked and weaved, trying to make it look effortless. Ranma began to  
worry that the blade could actually harm him, but he also relished the  
challenge. It had been a long time since Ranma had had a good fight.

Tatewaki feinted to his left and then tried a surprise slashing attack on  
Ranma's right arm. Ranma's confidence was shaken when the sword cut  
effortlessly through his "iron air" armor and sliced open his forearm. The  
pain was incredible but brief. He backed off quickly and regenerated his  
flesh, but his ki had been somewhat depleted by the cut. Now Ranma was  
really worried. He hated magic - it had never done him any good at all.

After tasting Ranma's blood Kuno's sword slowly began to change. First, it  
became blood red instead of black metallic, and then the sharp edge,  
originally straight, gradually became serrated. Finally, a new jewel,  
shaped like an eye, appeared in the pommel of the sword.

It was time to take this fight seriously. Ranma lashed out at Amiguriken  
speed, delivering one hundred twenty body blows in less than a second. He  
backed off, out of Kunos range.

Tatewaki laughed off Ranma's attack. "Is that the best you can do, Ranma?"

Ranma seemed to disappear and reappeared behind Kuno. "You're too slow,  
bozo," he taunted. Tatewaki whirled around, only to be met with a powerful  
ki blast to his chest. Ranma was disappointed, but not surprised, when his  
Mouko Takabisha seemed to have no effect. Kuno grinned and redoubled his  
efforts, while remaining uncharacteristically silent.

Ranma realized that Kuno wasn't using the sword, the sword was using Kuno.  
That's why Tatewaki was acting out-of-character. Further, it seemed that  
physical attacks and ki attacks were futile against the sword's magic.  
Ranma tried using nekoken ki-claws; they were useless against the  
enchanted blade. It was time to try something else.

Ranma gestured. Tatewaki suddenly found his feet embedded from the knees  
down in a thick and heavy block of ice. He struggled against the  
restraint, but could not move his legs. Undaunted, Kuno began to carefully  
chip away at the ice with his sword. Ranma was glad to find something that  
worked in his own favor. He repeated the gesture and the block of ice grew  
to waist high. Ranma grinned.

Soon, Tatewaki was enclosed in a prison of ice up to his head - with only  
his face and his right hand sticking out of the glacier. He glared at  
Ranma with venomous hatred, but was powerless to move. Ranma used a vacuum  
blade - it was not composed of matter or ki - to slash at Kuno's exposed  
wrist. It worked. The sword, and Tatewaki's right hand, fell to the  
pavement below. Kuno fainted.

"Sorry about that," murmured Ranma to his unconscious foe. He released  
Kuno from his prison of ice and let him down gently. It wouldn't do if  
Tatewaki got frostbite. He then regenerated Kuno's fallen hand and wrist  
using ki from the vanished ice. When Ranma looked down he saw that the  
amputated hand had blackened and shrivelled and had fallen away from the  
hilt of the sword.

Ranma pondered what to do about the enchanted sword. He didn't want to  
touch it, or even stay near it, but he couldn't leave it where someone  
else could find it. Finally, he decided to enclose the weapon in a  
cylinder of pure silver. The sword shivered in revulsion as it was being  
entombed. Finally, Ranma placed the silver cylinder into his stuff-space  
without touching it.

Tatewaki moaned and began to stir. He opened his eyes and tried, but  
failed, to sit up. He asked, "Uhh. What's wrong with me? Why does my hand  
feel funny? What am I doing here?" The madness was missing from his eyes,  
and the theatrical pretensions were missing from his speech.

"Hold still," commanded Ranma. He performed a ki-healing and an energy  
transfusion to restore Kuno's health. "You were the captive of a demonic  
sword, which was using your body to do its evil work. I defeated the  
sword, but it had already fed on your life-force and a bit of mine."

"Oh," replied Tatewaki. "I thank you, Ranma. You have saved my life." He  
stood and bowed. "My apologies." Kuno said adieu and returned to his home.

Ranma returned to the Tendo's and prepared for school. After the breakfast  
rush had ended, but while he was still in the school library, Ranma  
visited the Cat Cafe to consult with the "old ghoul."

Cologne greeted him, "Ah, Ranma, welcome! How nice of you to drop in." She  
no longer called him "son-in-law" because it's not wise to annoy a  
deicide.

"Good morning, Cologne. I hope you can advise me on a problem I'm having.  
I need to dispose of a sword that seems to be inhabited by a demon, and I  
want to know the safest way to do it."

Ku Lon raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? May I see this sword, please?"

Ranma withdrew the silver cylinder from his stuff space and caused it to  
open, unfolding to reveal the sword within. At no time did he touch it.  
The sword was slowly reverting to black as the blood-taint faded away.

Cologne's already large eyes opened even more widely. "That's a Soul  
Eater! I thought they were mythological. Where did you get it? Have you  
touched it?"

"I got it from Tatewaki; the Kuno's have owned it for a long time. An' I'm  
not dumb enough to touch it. However, it has tasted my blood in battle..."

Cologne was shocked and sorrowful. "They say its touch is poisonous and  
will eventually kill you!"

Ranma grinned. "I could sense that, so just to be safe I destroyed the  
body I had fought in and created another to replace it - without taint."

Cologne was bemused. "Only you could survive a demonic sword, Ranma. Only  
you."

"Yeah, but how do I get rid of it safely?"

"I'll have to do a little research. Give me a few minutes, Ranma." Cologne  
pogoed upstairs and returned ten minutes later with a dusty scroll. She  
unrolled it on a table and pointed with a bony finger. "This is the most  
powerful demon seal we know of. I don't think anyone can destroy the sword  
or the demon, but your silver sheath should be able to confine it."

"So I have to make these glyphs on the cylinder that I made?"

"Yes, but do be careful to copy these shapes exactly."

Ranma concentrated. The sword floated into its cylindrical sheath, and  
then the cylinder folded and sealed itself shut seamlessly. The scroll  
moved to cover the middle of the cylinder. The glyphs on the scroll glowed  
black for a minute, and then the scroll returned to its previous position.  
The antidemon seal was now embossed on the middle of the cylinder as if by  
a fancy photocopy machine. Cologne nodded approvingly.

"Now where can I put it? We don't want anyone finding it."

Cologne nodded. "You can't simply bury it under a mountain - mountains  
don't last forever. Ideally, you'd want to put it somewhere far from the  
Earth, so that no one will ever find it."

"I could toss it into the Sun..." offered Ranma.

Cologne shook her head. "Bad idea. It would melt the seal and the sheath,  
freeing the demon. Can you imagine the trouble a demon-possessed star  
could cause?"

Ranma slumped, then brightened up. "I can put it in its own stuff-space,  
and then put that inside my own stuff-space. It would then be two levels  
away from the rest of our universe; an' nobody else can get at my private  
space."

Mousse gaped in surprise. "Can you do that?" he asked enviously. His foe  
Ranma was exceeding him in his own favorite domain - again. Unfair!

Ranma nodded. "I just figured out how."

"It may be our best option," agreed Cologne.

The silver cylinder briefly wavered in an eye-straining fashion and then  
vanished.

"I hope that does it," concluded Ranma.

* * *

The librarian noticed two unfamiliar patrons who appeared to be of high  
school age. They were seated at the same table and ignoring each other.  
Both were nondescript students engrossed in reading books that appeared to  
be below their age level. She approached them and addressed the male  
student. "Are you new here? I don't remember seeing you before."

"Yes, this is my first time here," answered the young man politely, after  
laying down his book.

"Do you have a library card?"

The boy looked puzzled. "Do I need a card to read a book in the library?"

The librarian answered, "It's not strictly necessary, but we prefer it,  
and you'll get borrowing privileges too. It will only take a minute to  
fill out the paperwork."

"Okay," answered the student, "May I have the forms?"

"I'd like to have the forms too," volunteered the female student, "It's my  
first time here also."

As promised, it took only a minute to fill out the paperwork. The  
librarian took the forms to her desk and began to prepare library cards.  
"Must be foreigners," she thought, "Their names are Hairy Potty and Her  
Mean Stranger." The librarian did not read English children's literature  
and so she didn't get the joke.

Ranma and Ranma, in their alternate identities, continued studying with  
slight smiles on their faces.

* * *

That afternoon Ranma asked Kasumi to go on a date with him that evening.

"Oh my!" exclaimed Kasumi as expected, "I'd love to accept, but who will  
take care of the family?"

"They're old enough to take care of themselves," answered Ranma, "and I'll  
make dinner for them so you don't have to."

"That's so sweet, Ranma. I will go out with you. What should I wear?"

"Well, I think that you're a romantic at heart, so I'm planning something  
secluded and romantic for tonight. Wear something nice, but not too  
fancy."

Kasumi spent the next few hours in a deliriously happy daze. She hadn't  
gone out on a date ever, and she wasn't quite sure how to go about it. Of  
course, Ranma hadn't voluntarily gone out on a date before, but he was a  
little calmer about it.

As dinnertime approached Kasumi came downstairs wearing the gown that  
Ranma had made for her. Her hair was brushed to a high gleam, and she wore  
the slightest hint of makeup, tastefully applied. Naturally, she was  
blushing and giddy. Ranma was wearing semi-formal clothes that emphasized  
his masculine figure. Dinner for the family was on the table under domes  
to keep it warm.

"You look nice," Kasumi and Ranma said in unison.

Akane was sulking. "You're supposed to be engaged to me, Ranma. Why are  
you taking out my sister?"

"Not anymore, my mother annulled all engagements, remember," replied  
Ranma. "You'll get your turn soon." With that the couple walked out the  
door.

"Don't be afraid," said Ranma. He picked up Kasumi in his arms and rose 40  
feet into air. Soon the two of them were flying along the street at high  
speed.

Kasumi was in heaven. Being held by those incredibly strong arms made her  
feel secure even as she hurtled through the air. This was beyond  
roof-hopping; this was really flying. She heard the wind of their passage  
but felt only the gentlest of breezes. Curiously enough none of the people  
who should have seen them took any notice.

Eventually they came to a park, and Ranma settled down on a grassy area  
near a lake. There was no one else in sight.

"Oh, that was wonderful!' exclaimed Kasumi, "What are we going to do  
here?"

"Candlelight dinner by the lake shore, and later dancing under the stars."  
Ranma was really enjoying this; he'd rarely had the opportunity to make  
someone happy, and it was a great feeling.

"I don't see any..."

Ranma gestured. A small round table materialized, followed by two chairs,  
and a white linnen tablecloth. Two candles and a fine dinner for two  
appeared as if by magic.

"Oh my!"

They ate slowly, enjoying the experience, and talking to each other about  
their lives, their dreams, and their hopes for the future.

"I haven't had such an exciting life as you had," complained Kasumi, "Mine  
must seem ordinary and boring to you."

"If by 'exciting' you meant 'always on the brink of disaster,' then you're  
right. By now I _want _ 'ordinary and boring,' but I suspect I'll  
never have any."

"I see," replied Kasumi, who was feeling better about herself and more  
sympathetic towards Ranma after that insight.

The sun slowly set in a blaze of glory and a full moon rose. One by one  
the stars appeared and began to twinkle. When dinner was finished the  
diners stood and all traces of their picnic vanished. Ranma smiled, picked  
up Kasumi in his strong arms, and flew straight up. He flew to the top of  
a nearby cumulus cloud and set Kasumi down on it. To her surprise, the  
cloud supported Kasumi's weight without a problem.

Somehow "oh my" just didn't cut it. "Sugoi!" She took a few steps and  
said, "It's slippery, Ranma."

Ranma agreed. Clouds were sometimes flat on the bottom, but their tops  
were usually bumpy with mounds of steam. He concentrated. An area about  
the size of a skating rink flattened out to a smooth "floor." "I can't do  
much about the slipperiness, but I can level the playing field. Now we  
dance." Ranma exhibited an MP3 player he had Nabiki preload with suitable  
dance music.

Ranma and Kasumi danced on the top of the cloud with the moon and the  
stars looking down. What could be more romantic? The mood was broken when  
they were buzzed by a fighter plane that had been sent up to investigate  
the strange radar echos that had been detected.

The astonished pilot keyed his radio. "Base, this is Beta One. You're not  
going to believe this, but all I see up here is a man and a woman dancing  
on top of a cloud."

The radio replied, "Beta One, I don't know what you've been drinking, but  
I want some too. Can you get a picture?"

"Rodger that, Base."

A modern fighter plane is ill equipped to deal with airborne stationary  
objects, but the pilot did his best to get a shot with the wing-mounted  
cameras. When it was developed, the film showed Ranma waving a greeting to  
the pilot and Kasumi bowing politely.

Kasumi never noticed Ranma and Ukyo dancing on the next cloud over.

When the music ended Ranma picked up Kasumi and released the top of the  
cloud from his influence. It took him a few minutes to find the Tendo home  
from this height, but he found his way before either could get worried. He  
set Kasumi down gently in front of the entrance door.

Kasumi grabbed Ranma and kissed him long and passionately much to his  
surprise. She was sure she had just experienced the most romantic evening  
any woman had ever had, and she would do anything to show her  
appreciation. "I had a wonderful time tonight, Ranma." She blushed and  
added, "Would...would you like to spend the night with me?" she asked  
tremulously. "I can't believe I asked that!" she thought. Kasumi realized  
that at this moment she wouldn't mind bedding Ranma even if it meant  
bearing his child out of wedlock.

Ranma declined gently. "I appreciate the offer, but not tonight." He  
turned and flew away.

* * *

Earlier that same day, just after the lunchtime rush, Ranma entered  
Ucchan's.

"Hi, Ranchan, you want a special?"

Ranma sported a mischievous grin. "Well, I'd like something special, but  
not an okonomiyaki. I'd like to take you out for dining and dancing  
tonight. Can you be ready at 6:00?"

Ukyo was surprised and pleased. "The restaurant is busy at 6:00..." she  
began tentatively.

"I've got it covered," replied Ranma with a smirk.

A duplicate of Ukyo entered through the front door. "I'll handle the  
griddle, Sugar. Don't you worry about it none," she said in Ukyo's voice  
and accent.

Ukyo was surprised and truly puzzled. "Who...Ranchan, is that you?"

"Yup. I think I know you well enough that I can pretend to be you for a  
night," declared Ranma and the extra Ukyo in unison.

The real Ukyo sat down quickly. Things were moving too fast for her. "What  
do you have in mind?" she asked Ranma.

"Dining and dancing; a secluded romantic evening for two."

"Oh my," said Ukyo, "I'd love to go out with you, but what will I wear?"

"Wear whatever you like, nobody will see you but me."

Ukyo resolved not to miss this opportunity. "Yes, Ranchan, I'd love to go  
out with you."

"We'll pick you up here at 6:00 then," chorused Ranma and the extra Ukyo.  
They left, leaving Ukyo delighted and disoriented.

At six o'clock, as promised, the duplicate Ukyo entered the restaurant.  
"He's waiting for you outside, Ucchan. What do I have to do?"

Ukyo quickly filled her double in on the orders in progress so that she  
could take over smoothly. A few of her customers gawked at the sight; the  
remainder dismissed it as yet more Nerima weirdness and thus unimportant.

Ukyo stepped outside to meet Ranma. "Is it okay if I take my baker's peel?  
I feel naked without it."

Ranma chuckled. "I don't want you to feel naked, you might get the wrong  
idea."

Ukyo blushed. "That's not what I meant," she muttered.

"Don't be afraid," suggested Ranma. He picked up Ukyo and held her close  
to his body. They became invisible to everyone else as they rose into the  
air and flew away.

Once she had become adjusted to the strange situation Ukyo found it  
exhilarating. "My goodness, don't you have any respect for the laws of  
physics, Ranchan?"

Ranma laughed. "Only when it pleases me to do so, Ucchan."

Whereas Kasumi had spent her flight time looking at Ranma's face - she  
might have been afraid of heights - Ukyo was looking down and taking in  
the view. After a while Ranma brought them down to land at a scenic site.  
On one side the ground dropped away sharply to where ocean waves were  
breaking against the face of the cliff; on the other three sides a dense  
forest blocked the view. They were in a modest-sized clearing where  
grasses and wildflowers grew. Songbirds could be heard from the nearby  
forest.

Ranma caused a table, two chairs, food, and drink to appear. Kasumi had  
been offered Japanese food, which she preferred, while Ukyo was served  
fine French cooking - pate de foie gras, filet mignon, cherries jubilee,  
etc. Ukyo was served one glass of champagne. Ranma didn't drink alcohol so  
he substituted carbonated apple juice that looked like champagne. Ukyo  
turned out to be adept at eating with a fork. Naturally, a good time was  
had by all.

Ukyo had a slight buzz from her drink, and was still tingling from her  
remarkable, magical date with Ranma. "Ranchan, I've never been this happy  
before," she slurred.

"Just wait, the best is yet to come," replied Ranma. He had intended to  
show her a good time, and it was working. He raised Ukyo to standing and  
then lifted her up in his arms. The remains of dinner vanished as the  
couple rose into the sky. Soon they were dancing on the top of a cloud  
near the one the other couple was dancing on.

"Who could I tell about this evening?" wondered Ukyo, "Who would believe  
it?"

"Are you happy, Ucchan?"

"Never felt better, Ranchan. I hope this night never ends."

When the music ended Ranma returned them to the front of her restaurant.  
Since his other self had already found the dojo, it was easy to find his  
way to Ucchan's. On the way he described what her double was doing in the  
restaurant so that Ukyo could take over smoothly when they arrived. At  
this hour there wasn't much left to do.

On landing Ukyo kissed Ranma passionately. "Thanks, Ranchan, I've had the  
best time ever." She turned away reluctantly and entered the restaurant.

* * *

That same evening Ranma's fourth body was visiting his mentor Dr. Tofu and  
describing what his other bodies were doing.

"Ranma, what do you think you are doing?" asked Dr. Tofu, sounding  
concerned. "What are you trying to accomplish?"

"Um... Have a good time, get to know each other. Isn't that what people do  
on dates?"

"Yes, that's what most people do on dates. You, however, are not most  
people. Ordinarily, dating does not involve dancing on the clouds."

"How else are they going to learn what I can do now? It's part of who I  
am." Ranma was confused.

"Do you have strong romantic feelings for these girls?" Tofu asked  
earnestly. "Do you intend to marry them?"

Ranma was lost in unfamiliar territory. "Well, I like them both a lot, but  
I hadn't considered marrying anyone yet. I need to find myself before I  
find a mate."

"Then you may be making a big mistake, Ranma. You are not just 'having a  
good time' - you are forging strong romantic attachments to you in Ukyo  
and K...Kasumi. If you don't marry both of them then they will be  
tragically disappointed." Tofu looked pained.

Ranma began to appreciate what the good doctor was driving at. "Oh. I'm  
not being fair to them, am I? I didn't intend to hurt them. Sensei, I'm  
not very good at this relationship stuff..." Then realization hit him like  
a thunderclap - the doc was painfully smitten with Kasumi, and Ranma was  
stealing his girl. "Oh my God, Sensei, I hadn't meant to hurt them or you.  
I'm truly sorry. Now I don't know what to do to make things right..." This  
might be one time when Ranma didn't win.

Tofu said, "I don't know how you can let those girls down gently, Ranma.  
You have to begin by explaining what happened and let them know how you  
really feel."

"You're right, Doc. It'll be hard, but I have to do my best. An' I have to  
be sure not to make the same mistake again. Sensei, what do 'normal'  
people do on a first date?"

Now Tofu was on firmer ground. "Normally, dinner at a restaurant and take  
in a movie, in either order. For a second date you could include dancing  
at a night club."

"That'll be hard, Sensei. Those things take money, and I've been living  
without money for ten months now."

Tofu was surprised. "Ten months without a single yen?"

Ranma materialized an ice cream float and began to eat it, then he caused  
the remainder to vanish. "I can make anything I need outa ki, and I've got  
plenty of ki. Don't need money."

Tofu looked skeptical. "You may not need money for material goods, Ranma,  
but you will have to pay for services with cash. Doctors, lawyers, and  
others will expect to be compensated for their time." In a softer voice he  
added, "Present company excepted, Ranma. I'm not going to charge you for  
these consultations."

"Thanks, Doctor." In a bemused tone of voice Ranma added, "I'll have to  
get a job then. It'll be hard to find one that doesn't drive me nuts."

Tofu mentally appended, "and still harder to find a job where you don't  
drive them nuts!"

They talked for a few more hours. Ranma felt guilty for messing up the  
love lives of Ukyo, Kasumi, and Tofu. He resolved to do better in the  
future.

**Author's Notes**

Merely owning the demon-possessed sword has sucked the sanity out of the  
Kuno family members. Ranma had done them a great favor by hiding the  
cursed blade.  



	7. A Job

Multiplicity

A Ranma fanfic by Mike Breslau

Disclaimer: You know the drill: better folks than I own the characters that appear in this scribbling.

* * *

Kasumi awoke at 5:30 as usual so she could begin making breakfast. She  
heard a tapping on her windowpane. A quick glance showed Ranma floating  
outside her window and signalling that he wanted to be invited in. Kasumi  
made a welcoming gesture and Ranma phazed through the glass and alit on  
her floor.

"There's a man in my bedroom! How improper," declared the eldest Tendo  
daughter in a mock-scandalized voice.

Ranma quietly morphed to his female form. "There, now it's not improper."

Kasumi smiled impishly at her visitor. "Yesterday I invited you to spend  
the night with me, and you declined as a proper gentleman should. I'm glad  
you refused, but I have mixed feelings about it."

Ranko looked blank, waiting for her to continue.

Kasumi looked wistful. "If you had accepted, I would have enjoyed it very  
much - I'm sure you'd be a great lover - but I would have fallen  
completely in love with you. Since you declined, I'm a now grown woman  
with fond memories of a fabulous first date, and I'll always be grateful  
for that." Kasumi paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. "I believe  
you'll make a fine husband for some other woman some day, but I don't  
think I'm the best candidate to be your wife. Our temperaments are too  
different. You are practically a god and I'm not nearly up to your level.  
You lead such an _interesting _ life; I don't think I could stand it  
for long." Kasumi smiled sweetly, yet with longing, at Ranko.

Ranko was relieved and flustered. "I had prepared such a pretty speech,  
and you took the words right out of my mouth. I wasn't trying to make you  
fall in love with me last night; I just wanted to have a good time and for  
us to get to know each other better. I guess I like to show off - I hadn't  
thought about the effect it might have on you." Ranko looked hopeful. "Can  
we still be friends, Kas-chan?"

"I'm sure we can be best friends, Ranma" Kasumi answered.

Ranko answered, "I'd like that." She thought to herself, "what a good  
match Kasumi and Tofu would make. They think so much alike."

* * *

That same morning Ukyo came downstairs to find Ranma waiting patiently for  
her in her restaurant. "Ranchan! What a nice surprise," she exclaimed  
happily, and threw her arms around Ranma in a big hug.

Ranma tensed a bit and backed off slightly, then he returned the hug.

Ukyo murmured, "You know, if I wasn't on the rag I would have jumped your  
bones last night."

"Ucchan, we have to talk," said Ranma seriously.

"Uh oh," thought Ukyo, "that sounds like a major letdown is coming up."  
She released Ranma and backed away. "What's the matter, Sugar?"

"Ucchan, I've always considered you my best friend," began Ranma.

"Oh dear - that's the start of the classic 'breaking up' speech," Ukyo  
thought. Her eyes began to tear up. "What's the matter, Ranchan? After  
last night I thought we were an item."

Ranma took a deep breath and pleaded, "Hear me out, please. I aint good  
with words, and I aint good with feelings, so this may take a while.  
Ucchan, you haven't lost me - you're one of my favorite people - it's just  
too soon for me to make a commitment. Y'see, I hafta find myself before I  
can find a mate."

"Find yourself? You seemed to be doing just fine last night."

"Ucchan, I'm nearly nineteen. Thanks to the crazy way I was raised, I'm  
the best martial artist in the world. It's all I wanted to be; rather,  
rather, it's all I was forced to want to be. But I feel sorta empty  
inside. I never had a normal childhood - few friends, little schoolin', no  
sense of belonging, no home, no family. I need to catch up on all that  
stuff that everybody else takes for granted. Then I need to figure out who  
I am and find my place in the world. Only then is it possible for me to  
choose a mate. I'm not rejecting you, I'm just delaying hooking up."

"That's a lot of catching up to do. How long do you think it will take?"

Ranma scratched behind his pigtail. "My goal is to finish on or before my  
twentieth birthday. That's a little over a year away."

"Do you think you can do all that in only a year?"

Ranma smiled bashfully. "Well, I'm a fast learner, and besides I can learn  
four times quicker than anyone else."

"Four times?" Ukyo remembered something important. "Oh, that's right. You  
have four bodies..." She shook her head. "Ranchan, you sure take a lot of  
getting used to."

"Yeah. Sometimes I have trouble getting used to myself..." They both  
chuckled.

"Ranchan, where do I stand with you? Do I have a chance?"

Ranma understood what she was asking. "You have at least as good a chance  
of landing me as anyone else, and better than most. You and I have three  
things in common: martial arts, food - you love to cook it and I love to  
eat it - and gender confusion. Even if I marry someone else, I can still  
marry you. I can have four wives in monogamous marriages at the same time!  
But remember what we discussed last night - your dreams and my dreams. Do  
you think you could be happy leading the kind of exciting life I've led?  
Do you think I could be happy for long as a waitress or a cook?"

Ukyo realized what he was driving at. Their dreams were really  
incompatible. She turned up her cute. "What if I got kidnapped every week  
by some weird martial artist or a prince from some obscure magical  
kingdom? Would that satisfy you?"

Ranma laughed, then continued, "About last night. I'd heard that on a  
first date dinner out and a movie was customary. I couldn't afford that  
'cause I have no money, so I improvised. I guess I like to show off, I  
wanted you to see what I can do now, and I'm afraid I overdid it. I'm  
going to make our next date more normal, more subdued, if that's all right  
with you."

Ukyo brightened. "If we have more dates, you can make them as normal as  
you want to, Ranchan. Why do you have no money?"

"Pop never had any - he was allergic to working - so he developed terrific  
scrounging and survival skills. I learned those on our training trip.  
Recently, I can make whatever I need out of my ki, so I don't need money.  
Now I'm gonna figure out how to get some, even if it means having a job. I  
wanna buy those movie tickets honestly."

"Gambatte (good luck/try your best), Ranchan."

* * *

When Nabiki came downstairs that same morning she did a double-take. There  
was Ranma sitting at the table and earnestly studying the help wanted  
section of the newspaper.

"Well, that's something I thought I'd never see - a Saotome looking for a  
job!" Nabiki wanted to figure out what was going on - her curiosity was  
insatiable - but she had to leave for school.

Ranma carefully evaluated every opportunity offered in the paper, but none  
of them seemed quite right. He was either overqualified or unqualified for  
every existing job. He threw down the paper in disgust. "It looks like  
I'll have to make my own job." He began to scan the entire newspaper again  
with an open mind.

* * *

Jiro Hayashi sat behind his oaken desk, going through the paperwork piled  
high on its top. The smell of diesel fuel and the noise of heavy machinery  
came through the grimy window of his office. Suddenly, there was a  
collective exclamation of surprise from outside his small office building.

His assistant Daisuke burst into Hayashi's office, evidently excited. "Mr.  
Hayashi, there's a young man here who wants to speak with you. I really  
think you ought to see him."

Hayashi looked up in annoyance. "What's so special about this guy that you  
have to interrupt me?"

"He just picked up a bulldozer with one hand! I wouldn't believe it if I  
hadn't seen it myself," replied the assistant excitedly.

Hayashi raised an eyebrow. "Very well, show him in."

A young man wearing a red shirt and black pants came into the office.  
Hayashi noticed his startling blue eyes, so unusual in a Japanese, and his  
confident manner. "Good morning, Hayashi-san. I'm Ranma Saotome," said the  
young man.

"Did you really just pick up a bulldozer?" Hayashi asked.

"Your men were being obstinate, I had to persuade them," explained Ranma.

"I'm a busy man, Saotome, what do you want?"

Ranma answered calmly, "I'm thinking of going into the building removal  
business. I may be able to save you time and money."

That got Hayashi's interest. "Go on, please."

"Do you have a building where you'd rather have a hole in the ground? Or a  
big rock that you wished wasn't there? I think I can help you."

Hayashi was skeptical. "I have my own demolition crew. It's true that  
they've fallen behind a little - too much work to do and not enough time.  
Do you have an explosives permit, a safety consultant, insurance, a fleet  
of trucks for hauling away the debris? It's not an easy field to break  
into."

Ranma shrugged, unimpressed. "No explosives, no noise, no debris, no odor,  
no safety hazard. All I do is make stuff disappear, quietly, quickly, and  
efficiently. Are you interested?"

"I don't believe in magic," said Hayashi dismissively.

"I didn't either, until I had it forced on me. Look, I'm a martial  
artist...from Nerima. Ever hear of the Nerima Wrecking Crew?"

Hayashi chuckled. "Yes, I certainly have. My company has done quite a bit  
of repair and renovation work there thanks to the NWC."

Ranma smiled. "I've had a lot of practice breaking things, but recently  
I've improved my techniques quite a bit. Now I'm trying to find a  
constructive use for my talents. I was wondering if you'd like a  
demonstration?"

Hayashi leaned back and considered. If this guy could deliver what he had  
offered, it could save his construction firm time and money. "Okay, you're  
on. I've an abandoned apartment building on the other side of town. Let me  
drive you over there. We can exchange ideas, and you can give me an  
estimate after you've inspected the building."

"Sounds good." Ranma was pleased - this looked as though it might be easy.

They got into Hayashi's pickup truck and discussed details on the way  
over.

Ranma asked, "Do you want me to remove just the building or the building  
and its foundation? Do you want me to leave a hole in the ground, and if  
so, how big?"

Hayashi was impressed with Ranma's confidence. The young man was obviously  
inexperienced with construction and demolition, but he asked good  
questions. "Remove the foundation and leave a hole slightly larger than  
the existing foundation. You can let the walls slope outwards a little  
from bottom to top to reduce the chances of a cave-in. If you can do that  
I could start new construction much sooner than originally planned."

After driving for 40 minutes Hayashi stopped in front of a four-story  
building with boarded-up windows. They got out of the truck and Ranma  
walked around the building, inspecting quickly but carefully.

"There are salvageable materials in there - copper wiring and pipes,  
structural iron and stuff. Do your people recycle that sort of thing?"  
asked Ranma.

"I think they recycle the copper and scrap the iron; I'm not sure of the  
details..."

Ranma made up his mind. "How much would it cost your company to demoish  
the building and clear away the debris "

Mr. Hayashi gave him an estimate.

Ranma whistled. "I'll do it for half that much, and if I'm not done in an  
hour, then you don't have to pay me anything."

Hayashi was stunned. "You're going to do it here and now? And finish in  
less than an hour?"

"Well yes, if you're prepared to pay my fee when I finish."

Hayashi got on his cell phone and called his assistant. "Daisuke, bring me  
my checkbook. This looks like it's going to be interesting."

Ranma said, "You're welcome to watch from the outside, but don't come in  
until I'm done. Start your stopwatch, I'm beginning now." He walked up to  
the building and phazed through the wall.

Mr. Hayashi gaped. This 'demonstration' was already interesting. He  
waited. There were no sounds, and there was no sign of anything happening.  
Hayashi walked around the building but could not tell what was happening  
inside. After ten minutes the door of the building opened, and a pile of  
shiny copper tubing floated out and settled to the ground on one side. The  
tubes had been straightened and cut into three-meter lengths. Five minutes  
later a pile of copper wires floated out and stacked themselves alongside  
the tubing. The wires were stripped of insulation, straightened, and cut  
into three-meter lengths for easy handling.

Hayashi caught a glimpse of the interior of the building when the door  
opened to let the wires out. All the interior walls and floors had been  
removed, leaving only the structural iron framework. It looked like Ranma  
would beat his self-imposed deadline.

The door opened again, and a large pile of I-beams settled down next to  
the pipes and wires. This time sunlight could be seen inside the  
now-hollow building - the roof had been removed.

Hayashi's assistant drove up and noticed the piles of metal. "What the  
heck?"

As Mr. Hayashi tried to explain, an eight-foot square section of the upper  
exterior wall quietly vanished. Two seconds later another section of wall  
disappeared, and then another. Soon only an empty basement remained of the  
structure. There was no sign of Ranma. A minute later the foundation  
dematerialized leaving only a hole in the ground.

Ranma appeared and asked, "So, how long did I take?"

Hayashi recovered his composure and checked his watch. "Forty-eight  
minutes. Daisuke, my checkbook, please."

Daisuke was still in a state of shock. "He took down the whole building in  
48 minutes? That's incredible!"

Hayashi wrote out a check for the agreed-upon amount. "Mr. Saotome, you  
have certainly earned this. But, I need some paperwork for the  
bean-counters. I can't just write a check like this on my own say-so. Can  
you give me some form of contract, and some sort of bill so I can document  
the legitimate business purpose of this expense?"

Ranma was still learning the ropes. "That sounds reasonable. Can you give  
me until tomorrow for that? I'm not up on those legalities, and I want to  
research recycling these metals..."

"No problem," replied Hayashi. "Can you give me a phone number or some way  
of contacting you in case I need your services again?"

Ranma gave him the Tendo's number. "If I'm not there, ask for Nabiki.  
She'll know how to reach me."

* * *

Kodachi appeared during lunchtime at Furinkan. For a change, she was not  
wearing her customary black leotard, but was dressed in the proper girl's  
uniform for St. Hebreke School for Girls.

Kodachi approached Akane and announced clearly, "I wish to apologize for  
my unseemly behavior in the past. I don't know what came over me, but I  
hope it will not happen again." There was no sign of madness or  
affectation in her voice.

Akane and the other girls were speechless. After a moment Akane replied,  
"I guess we can forgive you..."

Kodachi bowed. "Thank you, Akane." She left to hunt up the other girls  
that she had wronged and repeated the apology before returning to her own  
school.

"I wonder what brought that on," mused Akane, "Not that I'm complaining or  
anything."

* * *

Nabiki came home and found Ranma sitting at the table with his nose buried  
in a book. "Did you find anything, Ranma-kun?" she asked.

Ranma put down the book and grinned at her - Nabiki's own shark-like  
smile. "I did indeed, Nabs. Now it seems I need a sharp financial advisor.  
See this?" He held out Hayashi's check for her to examine.

Nabiki took one look and had to sit down quickly. "One million yen!" she  
exclaimed. "You earned one million yen in a morning, starting from  
scratch! That's incredible..."

"You know how much I know about handling money, Nabiki. I'll pay you half  
of this if you'll manage it for me and explain what you're doing and why  
so that I can learn. I need to know about taxes, bank accounts, credit  
cards, and all that stuff."

"I can see you're a poor businessman. Paying me half so I can manage the  
other half is excessive."

Ranma took a deep breath. "All right. You can start today and keep going  
until you feel you've earned your money, and then you can ask me for more.  
Begin by deducting what you think I owe the Tendos."

Nabiki recovered her composure. "That's more than fair, Ranma. How did you  
earn this much so quickly?"

"There aren't any jobs out there that I could be happy in, so I had to  
invent my own. I thought, 'what am I good at?' and I answered, 'breaking  
things' so I went into the demolition business. I took down a four-story  
building in an hour. This sum is half what it would have cost to do it  
conventionally, so Hayashi and I are both getting a good deal."

"You've been broke for as long as I've known you, and now this? No wonder  
you need a financial advisor! What are you going to do with this money,  
Ranma-kun?"

Ranma smiled again - this time in a friendly manner. "Well for starters,  
I'd like to take you out to dinner and a movie tonight."

Nabiki was shocked. "You're asking _me _ out on a date?"

"Why yes. Think you can handle it?"

* * *

Ranma had converted a great deal of building mass into compact ki, but it  
was more ki than he could comfortably handle. He needed to get rid of it  
fairly soon. Ranma looked up metal refiners and metal recyclers in the  
phone book and placed several calls. Now he was flying invisibly towards  
the outfit that dealt in copper with the tubes and wiring he had salvaged  
from the building following closely behind him.

Ranma landed in front of the small office labeled "Receiving" and looked  
around. Piles of non-ferrous metals were scattered about the yard.  
Machinery he didn't recognize was common. Furnaces were evidently in a  
larger building across the yard. He dropped his cloak and entered the  
office.

"Hello, young man, What can I do for you?" said the clerk behind the desk.

"I called earlier about several hundred pounds of copper scrap..."

The clerk's eyebrows rose. "I remember. You look a little young to be  
dealing in so much metal. Do you work for one of my regular suppliers?"

Ranma answered, "I'm an independent operator, I guess. Mr. Hayashi  
contracted with me to remove an abandoned building, and I'd like to unload  
this scrap."

"Ah, Hayashi-san," murmured the clerk in recognition, "Where is this scrap  
now?"

"Just outside." Ranma pointed over his shoulder. The copper wouldn't fit  
in the small office, and it didn't belong there anyway.

The clerk followed Ranma out of the office and gasped when he saw a  
substantial amount of tubing and wire hanging unsupported three feet above  
the ground. "What the heck?" He walked around the copper to inspect it.  
"What's holding it up?"

Ranma put his hand behind his pigtail. "Would you believe an invisible  
forklift?"

The clerk regained his composure. "If you say so. This is a little long  
for my bins. Could you cut it in half?"

"No problem." Ranma waved his arm in a vertical chopping motion and the  
copper scrap parted into two equal halves. "Invisible bandsaw," explained  
Ranma. The clerk had to recover his jaw from the ground.

The scrap was weighed and moved into two of the available bins during the  
next 20 minutes. The clerk prepared to write out a check but was  
interrupted by a gesture from Ranma.

"If you had your choice, how much more copper could you hold and what form  
would you like it in?" asked Ranma.

"You have more?" asked the clerk. Ranma nodded. The clerk continued,  
"Well, if I had my choice it would be most convenient cast into ingots  
about this big." He waved his hands to indicate the desired dimensions.

Ranma grinned and lead the clerk back to the weigh scale, which was now  
piled high with two tons of shiny bright copper ingots of the indicated  
size.

The clerk recovered from his astonishment. "I get it - you're a martial  
artist from Nerima. Hayashi-san warned me you might be coming over. These  
bars are not scrap - you made them just for me..." He wouldn't have been  
more surprised if Santa Claus has paid him a visit out-of-season.

Ranma chuckled. "Invisible foundry. It's been a pleasure doing business  
with you."

"Yeah, sure," muttered the clerk. "My boss wouldn't believe this if I  
didn't have all this copper for evidence..."

In a few minutes Ranma was headed for the factory that processed scrap  
iron. He was able to unload all his excess ki there - they were used to  
dealing with larger and heavier pieces. His business there was similar to  
his encounter with the non-ferrous metal recycler.

* * *

Ranma was paying another evening visit to Dr. Tofu. He asked, "You're  
sweet on Kasumi, aintcha, Doc?" Tofu nodded slowly, while fighting to keep  
his composure. Ranma continued, "An' you never told her?"

"I couldn't," whispered Tofu softly, "I go to pieces when I even think  
about her. That's why I had to leave Nerima..."

"It's a pity things worked out this way. Kasumi would be better matched  
with you than with me. Sure, I can show her a 'magical' good time, but our  
lives are too different. She needs someone more 'normal' than this 'wild  
horse.'" Ranma paused. "If I can teach you to stay in control, would you  
woo her?"

"In a heartbeat! But how can you help me, Ranma? Do you have mind-control  
magic?"

Ranma laughed. "No, and it's a good thing. I get in trouble enough with  
the ki techniques I've already mastered. I was thinkin' of  
'desensitization,' sorta like this." His body began to morph into a form  
closely resembling Kasumi's - but with auburn hair and a few years older  
in appearance.

"Ka...Ka...Ka..." muttered Tofu as his eyeglasses began to fog up.

"It's me, Ranma," said the woman with Kasumi's voice, "Ya don't go nuts  
with Ranma, do ya doc?"

The doctor pulled himself together and took a good look at his visitor.  
She was clearly an impostor. That's what Ranma meant by  
'"desensitization." While trying to remain calm, Tofu carefully answered,  
"well, I _usually _ don't go nuts with Ranma."

"There's two things I can try, Sensei," said "Kasumi," "If every time I  
come over I look a little more like the real Kasumi, eventually you'll be  
able to keep control."

"That might work," said Tofu, who was clearly nervous at the prospect.  
"What's your other plan?"

Ranma grinned. "It's sorta like playing telephone. I can shape one of my  
bodies to look like you and send that one to visit her while I shape  
another body into her image and visit you. The 'Kasumi' body would say and  
do everything the real Kasumi does, and my 'Tofu' body would repeat  
everything you say or do to her."

Tofu briefly entertained thoughts of John Alden wooing Priscilla, but this  
sounded more like 3D video teleconferencing. "To keep it honest you would  
have to tell her that you're Ranma speaking for me...It might work. Why  
are you doing this? It must be hard on you"

"You showed me that I'd made a serious mistake by going overboard and  
showing off. Now I've hurt three people who I like, and I have to do  
whatever I can to fix it."

"You have a good heart, Ranma," concluded Tofu.

**Author's Notes**

How else could a person with Ranma's skill-set be gainfully employed?  
Beats me.  



	8. Taro's Name

Multiplicity

A Ranma fanfic by Mike Breslau

Disclaimer: You know the drill: better folks than I own the characters that appear in this scribbling.

* * *

That same evening Ranma was treating Nabiki to dinner at an upscale  
restaurant. They were seated at a booth which mostly shielded them from  
the view of the other diners. To insure further privacy, Ranma had morphed  
into a dark blond near-duplicate of Nabiki herself, so they looked like  
sisters. Nabiki was wearing a nice, but not too formal, brown outfit;  
Ranma was similarly attired in gray. A platinum brooch (a gift from Ranma)  
adorned the left shoulder of each of their jackets. This being Nabiki, her  
idea of a romantic night out required discussion of financial matters...

Nabiki shook her head in amusement. "Only you can hide in plain sight." By  
unspoken agreement, they were both not uttering each other's names to  
throw off eavesdroppers.

"If you got it, flaunt it. Besides, I don't want any of my 'admirers'  
tracking me down and spoiling our evening together."

"Very thoughtful. Why did you choose demolition as a career?" Nabiki  
asked.

"Consider my options," Ranma replied. "Most jobs are closed to me because  
of my lack of education. I can do anything a crane operator could do, but  
I wouldn't need a crane to do it. Pile driving, lifting stuff into the air  
- all that would be easy for me. But, crane operators get paid by the  
hour; in demolition, I get paid by the job and I can finish in under an  
hour and go home. More money, less time. It was easy."

"Wouldn't it have been simpler for you to go into business for yourself  
making things? You wouldn't need someone like Hayashi to hire you. I know  
you're good at making nice things, these pins are proof of that."

"Yeah, but then I'd have to find buyers for my stuff. I'm not good at  
selling, and I don't enjoy promoting myself."

Nabiki scoffed. "After all the boasting you've done you don't enjoy  
promoting yourself? Give me a break!"

Ranma looked thoughtful. "That boasting was partly to mask my insecurity;  
with Pop belittling me every hour of every day for a decade, I had plenty  
of insecurity. Partly it was to project an image of myself that would lead  
opponents to underestimate me. That is just another martial art technique  
that the very best have to use. Shampoo does it too."

"I don't lay all my cards on the table either." Nabiki changed the  
subject. "Can you make gems? They would be a lot more compact than tons of  
copper..."

Ranma reached into an empty pocket and pulled out a handful of diamonds.  
"Is that really a good idea? If you sell more than one or two of these  
won't people start asking questions?"

Nabiki was chagrinned at having been caught out. "You're right. We'd have  
to prove that we came by them honestly; that they're not blood diamonds or  
smuggled.' She fingered her brooch. "I could pawn a reasonable amount of  
jewelry like this, but if I sell too much it looks suspicious. Do you  
think you could make furniture? High end furniture commands a good price,  
and you don't need to prove anything to sell it."

Ranma pocketed the gems and paused for a moment. "How would I go about  
making and selling furniture?"

Nabiki was in her element now. "They have woodworking exhibitions. You  
make some nice pieces and show them there. Hand out flyers offering to  
custom-make furniture, and let the clients come to you."

"It's a thought. I would like to develop my artistic side more. You know,  
I was always more interested in the 'art' than in the 'martial.'"

"Oh, I know. I've watched you doing katas. If you would slow down, I could  
sell tickets to watch you practice. You're very graceful."

Ranma laughed. "Gettin' paid for practicing the Art. That'll be the day."  
She changed the subject. "Is everything you think about related to money?"

Nabiki snorted. "Is everything you think about related to martial arts?  
While you were learning your Art, I had to spend a decade keeping my  
family financially afloat. That's a heavy responsibility to place on a  
young girl. At least I never had to resort to selling my body! You've  
reached a time when you want to expand beyond martial arts; I'd love to be  
able to move beyond money-grubbing." Her voice turned bitter at the end.

"Sorry," said Ranma. "We've both become one-dimensional caricatures,  
haven't we? Maybe it's time to grow up now."

* * *

The next day Ranma was walking with Kasumi as she was returning from her  
shopping. The sky was blue, the air was warm, and everything would have  
been perfect if it hadn't been for Pantyhose Taro approaching them in an  
angry mood. Ranma sighed, shooed Kasumi away, and erected a barrier around  
Taro and himself to contain any damage that might result.

Taro lost no time in pleasantries. "Hey, fem-boy, where is the old  
pervert?"

"Congratulations, Pantyhose, for the first time ever I actually know where  
Happosai is when you asked for him. Now, why should I tell you?"

Taro growled, "I'll beat it out of you then..." Pantyhose understood  
direct and brutal; he didn't understand much else.

Ranma did a fair imitation of Rocky the flying squirrel. "That trick never  
works." Ranma made a show of donning a blindfold and quickly tying his  
right hand behind his back to prove that Taro was no threat to him. There  
was a swift exchange of fisticuffs. Taro was soon on the ground, black and  
blue all over, while Ranma was unharmed and unfazed.

"Geez, when did you get so good Ranma?" asked Taro.

"I've been training bull-boy. You know, if you had asked me politely we  
could have avoided this unpleasantness..."

Pantyhose considered his aching ribs and decided to try doing this Ranma's  
way. "All right, Ranma, please tell me where Happosai is."

Ranma removed his blindfold and grinned widely. "Right now he's standing  
just behind you."

Taro stood up and turned around. There was the old pervert standing just  
outside the invisible barrier that confined Pantyhose.

"Hi ya, Pantyhose, how are ya doin'?" greeted Happosai with a leer.

"Oh my," said you-know-who. "I thought you were confined to your room,  
Grandfather Happosai."

The pervert made a dismissive gesture. "I've been locked up before..."

"Usually for a good reason," muttered Pantyhose quietly. Louder,  
"Happosai, will you change my name? I hate the name you gave me."

Happosai shook his head. "Pantyhose is a fine name, young man. You should  
feel honored."

Taro started to fume. Ranma overrode him and commanded, "Happi, just do  
it. Give him a better name."

Happosai responded meekly, "Yes, master."

Pantyhose blinked. "Master?"

"Oh yes," replied the old pervert, "Ranma is better than me in every way,  
so he is my master now."

Pantyhose boggled at this admission.

Happosai looked thoughtful. "Let's see, what shall I call you? How about  
'Laura Biden'?"

"That won't do at all," responded Taro.

"How about 'Lois Bidder'?"

"No."

"'Wanda Lust'?"

"That's suits Ryoga, not me."

"Is 'Sally Forth' okay?"

"Never!"

"Perhaps 'Natalie Attired'?"

"No good."

"Consider 'Selma Soul'?"

Taro paused. "Tempting, but no."

"Maybe 'Laura Dee West'?"

"You gotta be kiddin'."

"'Kay Sera'?"

"Nope!"

"'Bertha DeBlues'?"

"No way!"

"How about 'Helena Handbasket'?"

"Been there, done that, don't want to be reminded."

"'Ivanna Holdyourhand'?"

"Too beatleish."

"'Ann Onomous'?"

"That's a cliche."

"I know! 'Auntie Histamine'?"

"Get serious..." Taro glowered.

"How about 'Elle Phant'?"

"Too big for me."

"'Anita Bitmore'?"

"Never!"

"'Auntie Septic'?"

"Surely you jest."

"'Lois Teem'?"

"Definitely not!"

"I know! How about 'Amanda B. Rekonwidth'?"

Taro paused. "I don't think so..."

Happosai smiled. "Maybe 'Juana Dans'?"

"No. Those are all girl's names. Give me a man's name, strong and  
masculine!"

"But I like girls names. Oh all right. Is 'Boris Todeath' okay?"

"No way, Jose."

"Misha Goss?"

"Nope. Too Jewish."

"'Lew Cipher'?"

"Nah."

"Perhaps 'Hugh D. Mann'?"

"Sorry."

"'Willy Wonthe'?"

"No way."

"'Evan Handed'?"

"No, No!"

"'Yul B. Sorree'?"

Short pause. "Nah..."

"'Bill O'Lading'?"

"Um, Nope..."

"'Luke B. Hindyu'?"

"Gimme a break..."

"'Mel Otoma'?"

"I won't be named after a cancer, thank you!"

"How about 'Hassan Ben Sober'?"

"That's insulting!"

"Would you accept 'Hugo Faraway'?"

"Never!"

"How about 'Ben Dover'?"

"I think not."

"'Moe D. Lawn'?"

"Nope."

"Maybe 'Jim Shortz'?"

Taro shook his head.

"Try 'Ken Opener' on for size."

"Sorry, it doesn't fit."

Happosai paused to consider. "I know! We'll call you 'Upton O'Good'"

"Do I look Irish? Don't think so."

"I think 'Loudon Noyzee' fits you."

"Arrgh! Definitely not!"

"You're hard to please. Perhaps 'Noah Kount'?"

Steely glare. "No!"

"'Tom Foolery'?"

"Never!"

"Maybe you should be 'Joe King'?"

"Quit clowning around."

"Pity that. Consider 'Neil Down'?"

"Give me a fairly decent name, dammit!"

"Okay. Does 'Fairleigh Descent' suit you?"

"That's almost good enough, I suppose. Can't you do better?"

"Considering your cursed form, how about 'Manny Tower'?"

Pantyhose thought about it. "Manny" sounded masculine enough, and "Tower"  
implied strength. "You're on! I'll take it," he said almost happily.

"I now name you Manny Tower. Congratulations, my boy," said Happosai  
solemnly.

The former Pantyhose danced a little jig, then produced a thermos of cold  
water from his backpack and splashed himself. Ranma lowered the invisible  
barrier around them. In a few minutes a minotaur named Manny Tower was  
flying West, heading back home to China.

Once the flying Tower was safely out of sight "Happosai" morphed into a  
duplicate of Ranma. The two Ranmas high-fived each other.

"Was that you all along, Ranma?" asked Kasumi.

"Yup. The real Happosai is still locked in his room," answered one of the  
Ranmas. The other Ranma silently nodded.

"Oh my..."

At this moment Tatewaki Kuno appeared. He was dressed in normal clothing  
and carried no boken. He bowed to Kasumi and the Ranmas. "I wish to  
apologize for my boorish behavior in the past. It was unbefitting a man of  
my station."

"Oh my," said you-know-who.

"No problem. Apology accepted," said one of the Ranmas. "Actually, I sort  
of enjoyed our little skirmishes," added the other Ranma, "but I didn't  
like it when you endangered innocent bystanders."

Tatewaki blinked twice. "How long have there been two of you?" he asked.

"There are actually four of me now, the others are elsewhere," chorused  
the Ranmas in eerie unison. "It's a recent development," added one.

"I don't understand," Tatewaki said.

"There's quite a bit you don't understand," muttered one of the Ranmas.  
The other explained, "It's an advanced martial arts technique that allows  
me to be in several places at once. It's not magic; it's done with ki  
manipulation."

Kuno paused for a minute to let it sink in. "You're saying that  
sufficiently advanced martial artists can do amazing things?"

Both Ranmas nodded. "That's right," they said. One continued, "Now if you  
want to see real magic, just hold my wrists." He extended his arms towards  
Kuno.

Tatewaki grasped the offered wrists. "Why am I doing this?" he wondered.

Both Ranmas gradually morphed into their female form.

Kuno was in shock. He had felt the wrists that he held change; there was  
no way to substitute one body for another without his feeling it. "My  
pigtailed goddess...You are another manifestation of Ranma? How is this  
possible?"

One Ranma began, "In the remote mountains of China there is a valley  
called Jusenkyo. It contains over 100 cursed springs - called the pools of  
sorrow. Whoever falls into a spring and survives takes the form of  
whatever drowned in that spring most recently. Any creature who falls in a  
spring and drowns gives that spring a new template." The other Ranma  
concluded, "My father fell into the spring of drowned panda; I fell into  
the spring of drowned maiden."

Kuno was shocked. "So if I fell into that cursed spring, I would become a  
girl?"

"Yes. You would be a girl until you got splashed with hot water - that  
returns you to your birth form. But, contact with cold water reactivates  
the curse and would bring forth your other form." The other Ranma added,  
"however, the curse magic makes you a water magnet - just to keep your  
life interesting."

"But you changed without water," observed Tatewaki.

"That's another advanced ki manipulation technique. I now have control  
over Jusenkyo magic, so perhaps I am a magician of sorts."

"I see," said Kuno, "I must tell my sister of this wonder."

"Gambate," chorused the Ranmas. Kuno left, looking dazed and thoughtful.

* * *

That same afternoon another Ranma was talking to Xian Pu in the Cat Cafe,  
with Ku Lon listening in. The old crone was going to listen and kibitz  
anyway, so Ranma thought he might as well invite her.

Ranma asked to Ku Lon, "Elder, how do Amazons get to know each other?  
Surely, there must be other ways besides beating each other black and  
blue..."

Cologne chuckled. "Yes, we can interact without bloodshed. Believe it or  
not, some of us are not even good fighters: lore keepers, healers, and the  
like are respected for their useful skills. It is rare, but it happens,  
that sometimes we go on dates just as outsiders do."

Shampoo added her two cents. "Normally, Shampoo would want to spar with a  
great fighter like Ranma to see how she measures up. After you defeated  
Saffron that became impossible. The entire village combined could not do  
what you had done that day; sparring with you would be pointless."

Ranma looked disappointed. He responded, "actually, I was hoping you would  
spar with me. I'm afraid to fight or spar because I'm too powerful now. I  
need to learn how to hold back enough so I can hit without killing  
someone. You are one of the few people I know who could accept the damage  
I might do - and you'd even be proud of surviving it."

Shampoo had mixed emotions. "Aiyah! You want punching bag? Shampoo is  
warrior, not practice dummy!"

Cologne giggled briefly - with dignity. Ranma waved his hands in denial.  
"That's not what I meant. I was praising you! Of all the people I know,  
Ryoga is the toughest, but he'd get angry and depressed. I wanted a tough  
sparring partner who could give as well as take and keep a clear head  
while doing so."

Shampoo was relieved. "Oh. That sound better."

Cologne interjected, "If you offer to train her in martial arts, I'm sure  
Shampoo would accept."

Shampoo looked eager. Ranma spoke formally, "Xian Pu, this one would like  
to invite you to train and spar this afternoon, followed by a hot bath and  
then dinner out."

"Aiyah! I'm so happy."

Mou Tse appeared and interrupted, "You can't! Xian Pu is mine!"

A cupful of cold water appeared over Mousse's head and splashed down,  
changing Mousse into his new cursed form. Instead of being a  
normal-looking nearsighted white duck, he was now black and bore a strong  
resemblance to the "Daffy Duck" cartoon character. Like the cartoon duck,  
Mousse could talk in a funny voice, and he also could see clearly, but he  
couldn't fly as well as before.

"Quack!" said the dazed and confused drake.

"Stupid Mousse!" said Shampoo, "Shampoo was never yours and never will be.  
There are none so blind as those who will not see."

"But I love," squawked the duck, then he stopped in surprise. "Hey! I can  
talk. I can see!"

Ranma smirked. "I took the liberty of rewriting your cursed form's  
template, Mousse. Enjoy your new eyesight, and then look for someone who  
returns your affections."

"You've mastered Jusenkyo magic?" asked Shampoo and Cologne in chorus.

"Yes," admitted Ranma, "I wanted to understand how my curse worked and so  
I learned how to control it. It's a quite useful technique."

"We MUST get this guy into the tribe somehow," thought Cologne, "I'd make  
him king of the entire valley if I thought it would do any good."

"Can you cure my curse?" asked Shampoo eagerly.

"I'd rather train you to the point where you can control it yourself,"  
replied Ranma. Cologne nodded.

Soon Ranma and Shampoo were in the cleared space behind the Nekohanten  
that the Amazons used for a practice area. Ranma erected a barrier of  
immobile air around them to confine any damage that might result. They  
began to spar. Initially, Ranma felt as though he was dancing through  
treacle as he tried to move slowly enough. At first, he was only dodging,  
trying to evaluate Shampoo's level of skill in her various moves.

"Hit me, Ranma!" cried Shampoo, "Your dodging makes warrior angry."

Ranma reluctantly obliged, doing his best to be careful. Shampoo muffled  
an exclamation of pain as she flew into the protective barrier and slumped  
to the ground.

Ranma hurried over and held her down while he checked her out. "Don't move  
yet," he commanded.

"I'm all right," protested the Amazon.

"No you're not, you've two broken ribs. Hold still while I try to fix  
them." Ranma directed his senses, then his ki, into Shampoo's injury. In a  
little over a minute the broken bones had reunited and knitted together,  
then the damaged flesh around them was healed. Ranma had used his  
Jusenkyo-like techniques to replace damaged tissues with healthy ones.

"Ai ren is a healer now?" asked Shampoo in awe.

Ranma didn't think he deserved that title. "Pop taught me field first aid,  
or I never would have survived his training. I've been talking to Dr. Tofu  
and studying some in the library, but I'm not a healer yet. Maybe  
someday..."

"We have got to get Ranma into the tribe," thought Cologne and Shampoo  
simultaneously.

**Author's Notes**

And I thought I could write a story without humor...  



	9. PChan

Multiplicity

A Ranma fanfic by Mike Breslau

Disclaimer: You know the drill: better folks than I own the characters that appear in this scribbling.

* * *

Ranma was visiting Happosai in his room at the same time that he was  
sparring with Xian Pu.

"I think you should know what you did this afternoon," said Ranma.

Happosai was surprised. "I know what I did - I rotted in this ugly cage of  
yours, Ranma, just like every other day."

"No, you gave Pantyhose a new name," said Ranma. He proceeded to recap  
Taro's encounter with the fake Happosai.

The old pervert giggled while he listened. "I wish I'd been there - it  
sounds like fun." Then he grew thoughtful. "You know, my boy, maybe I  
should take 'my' own advice. It seems that you do a better job of being me  
than I can do. Perhaps I should retire and appoint you my successor. How  
would you like to be the new grandmaster of Anything Goes? You're  
certainly qualified..."

"I'd rather not," Ranma protested, "Your school is tainted; I'd prefer to  
found my own school."

Happosai had prepared for that. "Doesn't matter, my boy. I hereby resign  
and appoint you my heir and the new grandmaster of my school. Bring me  
some paper and I'll document it."

Ranma made a sour face. "Thanks, but no thanks." He prepared to leave.

"Wait," pleaded the pervert, "Won't you at least let me out of here? I'll  
be good."

Ranma considered the offer. "Okay, I'll release you. But, if you molest  
any women or steal any underwear, then I'll lock you up and throw away the  
key. And you know I can do it."

Happosai's shoulders slumped. "That's harsh, but I suppose I deserve it.  
Okay, Ranma, and thanks."

Ranma released the barrier around Happosai's room and left. The former  
grandmaster began to carefully remove and collect the pictures that  
adorned his walls.

* * *

Happosai bounced into the Nekohanten wearing a mischievous expression and  
carrying a large manilla envelope.

Cologne was not pleased to see him. Judging by his aura, this was the real  
deal, not Ranma's imitation. "What are you doing here, Happi?" asked  
Cologne gruffly.

"Just visiting," replied Happosai. "I'm so glad Ranma let me out of his  
cage. He had the nerve to decorate my room with these..." He held out the  
envelope.

Cologne took the proffered package and began to examine its contents. She  
cackled. "Very artistic. I'm sure I never posed for these pinup pictures.  
It's not Nabiki's work - who else?"

"I think Ranma made those pictures, though I don't think he used a  
camera," suggested Happosai. "He's a boy of many talents." The old pervert  
had hoped Cologne would get upset by the pictures; the old gal was  
spoiling his fun.

The splashing and giggling sounds which could be faintly heard from  
upstairs abruptly ceased. Ranma and Shampoo came downstairs wearing  
matching terrycloth robes.

Happosai raised an eyebrow. "Ranma shared a tub with Shampoo? Is the lad  
growing up?"

Shampoo mock pouted. "Ranma see Shampoo naked and he no react! Is Ai Ren  
gay?"

Ranma came to his own defense. "No, not gay, just strong self-control. My  
pop's training, you know. Besides, I'm part girl, and that affects my  
outlook." His voice softened, "You have a very attractive body, Shampoo,  
but it has no surprises for me." To prove his point Ranma morphed into a  
duplicate of Xian Pu.

Shampoo poked Ranma gently in the breast. "Aiyah! Is a perfect copy. Just  
like looking in mirror."

Happosai feigned horror. "Ranma behaves like a gentleman in the presence  
of beautiful naked women? Oh, where have I gone wrong?"

"Blame my Pop," suggested Ranma. "For over a decade he drilled into me  
that women were weak, silly, and a distraction from the Art which I'm  
better off avoiding. Then he expected me to turn on a dime and marry a  
girl of his choosing. As if!"

"Amazons need to teach stupid panda-man the error of his ways!" declared  
Shampoo. "Stupid Genma is weak and silly, not us!"

Ranma nodded. "Be my guest. Just leave him alive so I can 'educate' him  
further."

"Surely you don't believe Genma's teaching about women?" asked Cologne in  
a dangerous tone of voice.

"Ninety percent of what Pop says is flat-out wrong, and one hundred  
percent of it is self-serving. He just didn't want some cutie to come  
along and lure me away from his influence."

Heads nodded in agreement. Shampoo realized that it was going to be harder  
to capture Ranma than she had expected.

* * *

It was another late-night session with Dr. Tofu Ono. Ranma had arrived in  
a form almost identical to Kasumi's, which was making the good doctor  
nervous. Ono could only keep control because he knew in his heart that  
this was Ranma Saotome, no matter what he/she looked like.

Ranma asked, "Sensei, What is love? How do I know if I'm in love?"

"Why do you ask?"

"My mom says if I have to ask, then I'm not in love. That's not a helpful  
answer to my question."

Tofu leaned back in his chair and thought. "You ask the damnedest  
questions, Ranma." A moment later he continued, "Here's my take on it.  
When you feel happy just being near someone, that's infatuation - also  
called 'puppy love'. Real love is the desire to make someone else happy,  
healthy, and successful. That's how a husband and wife should feel about  
each other, and how a parent should feel about a child. It's a bit much to  
expect a child to feel that way toward his parents, but children feel  
infatuation toward their parents. Of course, other people will give other  
answers to your question, but that's how I see it."

Ranma reminisced. "About a year ago Akane had died at Jusendo. I yelled  
out 'I never told her that I love her' - and she returned to me! It was a  
miracle! At the time I thought I was in love with her, but to tell the  
truth, I'm not so sure what I feel. There's a connection between us, more  
than a friendship but less than love as you've described it. I'm attracted  
to her, I feel good when she's near me and not angry...We're kindred  
souls, much alike. She doesn't trust me, and that's a problem. But, since  
I don't really understand what love is, I can't tell for sure if I love  
her or not. Does that sound to you like a good basis for marrying  
someone?"

Tofu considered. It was odd hearing "Kasumi" declare her love for Akane.  
"You're almost 19 now, so you were less than 18 at Jusendo. Some people  
that age are mature enough to feel adult love, but, much as it pains me to  
say this, neither you nor Akane is that mature yet. I think you should  
make no commitments now, but try to grow up and see what develops. Try to  
get to know each other without the pressure of an engagement - you might  
be surprised."

Ranma nodded. "Sounds good, Sensei. Thanks."

* * *

The next day Ranma approached Akane. She gave him a hooded glare that was  
hard to interpret. He asked diffidently. "I'd like for us to get to know  
each other better, Akane, but I'm not really sure how to go about it. Do  
you want to go on a date like the other girls?"

Akane was relieved, but still feeling resentful. "Why did you go with all  
the other girls first?"

"Saving the best for last?" offered Ranma semi-facetiously. "I haven't  
gone with all the girls - I've omitted Kodachi and others."

Akane was almost mollified. "Humph. If you really want to get to know me,  
then train me seriously," she said with her arms crossed.

In unison, they both continued, "I'm a martial artist too."

Akane giggled. "I guess you do know me, at least a little bit." Ranma  
joining in her declaration had lifted her spirits. "And then you can take  
me out on a date." She smiled.

"She has a beautiful smile," he thought. Ranma turned serious. "I'd like  
to train you, but I'm reluctant to spar. I've yet to learn enough finesse  
and self-control to avoid injuring you severely. Can you imagine sparring  
with a locomotive?"

"Are you really that strong, that dangerous?"

"Hit me, 'Kane, and don't hold back. Give it your best shot - I won't  
move."

Akane raised an eyebrow. Producing her mallet-o-doom, she took a mighty  
swing at Ranma. Blam! The resulting recoil hurt her hands. It would have  
been easier to smite a mountain. Once her hands stopped stinging she said,  
"You weren't exaggerating! How did you get so strong?"

Ranma answered seriously, "I had a decade and a half of strenuous  
training. Your father never could bring himself to really train you hard.  
On the other hand that left you with enough free time to go to school, go  
shopping, have a normal life, and to have friends. I never had those  
things."

Akane realized that just as she was jealous of Ranma's martial arts  
skills, he envied her social skills. Ranma had paid a serious price for  
his accomplishments. "I see. Well, the sooner we start, the better. Can  
you start training me now?"

Ranma nodded. "Follow me, student." He led the way into the dojo, then  
gave Akane a pair of 15 pound dumbbells. "Lesson one: fast and slow  
fibers. I want you to slowly lift these over your head, using curls and  
then presses, as many times as you can. Try to move slowly and  
gracefully."

Akane was puzzled, but she complied. At first it seemed easy, but she soon  
found herself growing tired. Akane stubbornly persisted, but eventually  
had to admit defeat. "That's it," she muttered.

"Now do it as quickly as you can," Ranma responded.

Akane was sure she was too tired to continue, but she tried to comply with  
her sensei's wishes. To her surprise, she could manage ten more reps  
before she began to feel too tired.

"Okay, now sit and listen," ordered Ranma. "All great artists must  
understand their instruments; their tools. To be a great martial artist  
you have to understand your body and how it works. Did you notice how the  
second group felt compared to the first group?"

"It started out easier, then it became harder as I grew more tired."

"You see, there are two kinds of fibers in your body's muscles: fast  
twitch and slow twitch. The fast twitch fibers are thicker and stronger;  
slow twitch fibers have more mitochondria."

Akane interrupted, "Mitochondria?"

"They're the organelles within a cell that convert fuel into energy. Your  
slow twitch fibers were tired out, but the fast twitch fibers were rested  
when you began the fast movements. Men have more fast twitch fibers than  
women do, so they can develop bulging muscles and great peak strength.  
Women have more slow twitch muscle fibers, so they have much grater  
endurance than men but cannot exert as much peak force as a man can."

"Is that why you're faster than me?"

"That's part of the reason. If you want to speed train, then you have to  
exercise your fast-twitch muscles. The exercises you have been doing will  
build strength, but won't improve your speed."

"But won't I develop bulging muscles like a male bodybuilder? I don't want  
to look like that." Akane fretted.

"Don't worry, it isn't likely. Women can develop bodybuilder muscle  
bulges, but it requires dedication and persistence. You don't want to  
concentrate on speed or strength exclusively - you need to develop both,  
and martial art moves too. Knowing this, how would you fight a male  
opponent?"

Akane pondered for a moment. "Try to drag it out until he got tired; then  
I'd have the advantage."

Ranma nodded. "You'd have to avoid taking too much damage while your  
opponent is fresh, so you'd need to work on dodging his blows."

"Hai, Sensei." Akane bowed her head.

An hour later Akane felt that she now understood the Art and her body  
better than before. She continued diffidently, "How did you get to be so  
smart, Sensei? When you arrived here you seemed to be an ignorant barbarian."  
She blushed as she realized what she had said. "I mean..."

Ranma made a dismissive gesture. "I'm still an 'ignorant barbarian', but  
I'm trying to correct that. Akane, my father may not be good for much, but  
he is an excellent martial artist. Genma also set a good example for  
teaching martial arts..."

Akane blanched. She did not want to train as Ranma had.

Ranma continued, unperturbed. "But unfortunately, he mostly set a good  
example of what not to do."

"Ah," said Akane, feeling much relieved.

* * *

Kasumi opened the front door of the Tendo home in response to the  
doorbell. Even she, with her untrained eye, could easily tell that Ryoga  
had changed. His depression and resentment were gone, and now he was  
almost calm. "Accepting" or "at peace" would be a more accurate  
description.

"Good morning, Ryoga," she greeted him in her usual friendly voice.

Ryoga smiled. Kasumi could make anyone feel better. "Good morning, Kasumi.  
Are Ranma or Akane available?"

"Oh my! Yes, they're in the dojo," was Kasumi's predictable reply.

Ryoga carefully made his way out back to the dojo - without getting lost.  
He opened the dojo door and stopped to watch. Ranma was instructing Akane  
in the Art, and doing a good job of it too. Ryoga had never seen Ranma  
acting so mature or self-confident, and Akane was taking her lesson  
seriously. "They've grown up," he thought, "and I guess I have too."

There were eight two-by fours standing on edge on the floor, laid out in  
an octagonal pattern. Akane was balancing on the narrow edges as she ran  
clockwise around the pattern. This was similar to the fence-walking that  
Ranma used for balance practice, but much safer.

"Faster," commanded Ranma. Akane did her best to go faster. She was  
beginning to look stressed. Ranma casually tipped over one of the boards,  
interrupting the smoothness of the octagonal layout. Akane grumbled a bit,  
but she quickly adapted to the irregularity.

"Halt," said Ranma. He restored the tipped-over board to its original  
position. "Now do it backwards, student."

Akane's eyes opened wide briefly, then she tried to run backwards around  
the octagon. She was slower than she had been when going forwards, but she  
did all right. Ryoga nodded in approval.

After another minute Ranma commanded Akane to stop and dismount. Only then  
did the two of them pay attention to their visitor.

"Well done!" exclaimed Ryoga. Then he grew nervous as he asked, "Akane,  
may I speak with you- alone?"

Ranma quietly left the dojo. Akane looked puzzled at Ryoga's nervousness  
as she gave him her undivided attention.

"Akane, I have been keeping two important secrets from you," began Ryoga.  
He swallowed and said, "I really hope you can forgive me." When Akane made  
no reply he continued, "You see, I have a Jusenkyo curse too. When I get  
wet, I turn into..." His voice dropped to a near-whisper, "a little black  
pig."

Akane displayed a range of emotions as she processed this information and  
realized its implications. "You are P-chan?" Ryoga nodded, looking  
mortified. "You watched me getting dressed; you slept in my bed?" Akane  
was slowly growing angry, but hadn't reached the blind rage that would  
have followed if she'd learned this a year earlier.

Ryoga made warding gestures. "I never watched you getting dressed - I  
always turned my head when you did that." Actually, he couldn't have  
watched her getting undressed even if he'd wanted to - he would have  
passed out with a nosebleed.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Akane demanded.

"That's my other secret." Ryoga paused to gather his courage. "You see, I  
was, and I still am, in love with you. If I had to be a pig to be near  
you, then I'd be a pig. It was a small price to pay..."

Akane was dumbfounded. "Oh! I never realized...Oh dear! Ryoga, I don't...I  
mean, I like you as a friend..." She trailed off, uncertain about how she  
should react.

"Do you at least not hate me?" asked Ryoga.

"Oh, Ryoga, I could never hate you. You're a pretty nice guy, when you're  
not feuding with Ranma." Akane paused. "How did that happen, anyway?"

"Years ago he and I attended the same school. We were friends and rivals,  
but he always teased me or competed with me. You know how he is - it's  
just his way. He helped me by leading me home from school so I wouldn't  
get lost. But, at lunch time in school it was always a race to see who got  
the last katsu-sand; Ranma was so quick that he almost always won.  
Finally, I challenged him to a duel. It was to be in an empty lot behind  
my house. I wouldn't let him lead me there for our duel because of my  
pride."

Akane had heard parts of this story before. "Ranma says he waited three  
days and you didn't show up. On the fourth day Genma knocked him  
unconscious and dragged him off to China."

Ryoga blushed. "I didn't realize Genma had taken him away, so I blamed  
Ranma for running out on our fight. I managed to trail him all the way  
across China - to Jusenkyo. I guess you know what happened next. In my  
rage I blamed Ranma for getting me cursed; in fact, I blamed Ranma for  
everything bad that ever happened to anyone."

Akane blushed in embarrassment. "I know how you feel. Ranma's attitude set  
me off. I was jealous of him for being so much better than me, and I  
blamed him for everything that I didn't like..."

"We were both quick to rage against him. Actually, you and I are much  
alike: strong, quick to anger, emotional, and ready to blame Ranma for  
anything at all."

"But you seem much calmer now," observed Akane.

"Ranma told me that I should purify my ki of all emotion. He said pure ki  
is more powerful than emotion-based ki, but it's more difficult to  
generate. He's right; my ki is quite a bit stronger now. Ranma said he  
would teach me how to control of my curse if I purified my ki, and now I  
want to take him up on it."

Akane stammered, "I have very little control of my ki - mostly I use it to  
make my mallet. Ranma says he'll teach me ki manipulation after I become  
more experienced in basic martial arts. You know, Ryoga, he's a very good  
teacher. I'm jealous of all the things he can do so well..."

Ryoga tentatively hugged Akane. When she didn't object, he tightened his  
grip slightly. "Yes, he's very good, Akane, but he paid a terrible price  
to get there. You or I wouldn't have survived that ten-year training  
trip." He paused. "Well, that's all I wanted to say to you. Let's go out  
so I can get that ki training." Akane nodded. They left the dojo but  
didn't see Ranma anywhere.

"Where's is he?" asked Akane.

Ryoga silently pointed upwards. Male and female Ranmas were doing katas  
twenty feet in the air - a virtuoso performance of martial art skill and  
control. Akane couldn't help herself - she applauded. The female drifted  
down to join them; the male flew away to attend to other business.

"Do you think I'll ever be that good?" asked Akane quietly. Ryoga silently  
wondered the same thing. Akane continued in a louder voice, "Ranma, why  
didn't you tell me about Ryoga's curse? Surely, you owed your fiancee that  
much honesty!"

Ranko made warding gestures. "I probably should have, but I'd promised him  
that I wouldn't tell. The demands of honor conflicted, and I didn't handle  
it well. I was partially responsible for his getting cursed, and martial  
artists don't reveal each other's weaknesses."

"Oh," said Akane, slightly mollified.

"Akane, would you leave us alone for a while? You're not at all ready for  
this lesson yet," commanded Ranko. It was not a request. Akane left.  
Turning to Ryoga, Ranko continued, "Have you noticed what it feels like if  
the water is barely cold enough to trigger your change as compared with  
water that is quite a bit colder?" Ryoga nodded. "That difference is what  
we'll start working with..."

An hour later Ryoga had control of the trigger portion of his curse. Any  
water warmer than freezing would transform his pig shape into a human, and  
any water much colder than freezing would change him into a pig. But water  
that is frozen solid cannot wet a person, and the Jusenkyo curse needed to  
be wet to be activated. This was the minimum amount of control that would  
satisfy Ryoga's need - his curse was not cured, he could not transform  
into other shapes, but from now on he would only change if he wasn't  
paying attention to his self-control and he could more easily change back  
than before.

"Thanks, Ranma, I really appreciate this," said Ryoga.

Ranko flashed a sunny smile that made Ryoga's knees weak. "I enjoyed it,  
old pal, and it's the least I could do for you after helping you get  
cursed." She paused briefly and then changed the subject. "You know,  
Ryoga, I wouldn't object if you paid court to Akane."

Ryoga was shocked. "I thought you two were an item..."

Ranko looked wistful briefly. "It's complicated. I think we love each  
other, and I think I would be happy married to her, but I don't think she  
could be happily married to me. She's jealous of my achievements - I  
excell at things she only aspires to, and it slowly eats her alive."

Ryoga grinned. "And if she accepts me, then you'd have one less fiancee to  
worry about?"

Ranko replied, "I have many would-be brides, but I don't think I have any  
that would be stable, happy partners. Akane is too competitive. Ukyo only  
dreams of running a restaurant; can you imagine me being happy as a  
waitress? Shampoo would be delighted to bear my children - it would bring  
her great prestige among the Amazons - but can you see me fitting in to a  
culture where men are second-class citizens and women rule? Kodachi was  
flat-out crazy. Tatewaki wanted to marry me and/or kill me, depending on  
what form I was in at the moment. Kasumi will make a fine wife someday, but  
she really belongs to Tofu. Nabiki isn't passionate about anything except  
money and control. I think I could get along with her - she wouldn't  
compete with me - but I'd always have to be on guard against her  
deviousness..."

"Maybe you need a completely different type of girl - a dress designer or  
a journalist," suggested Ryoga.

Ranko flashed that smile again. "I have a great many other choices, you  
know. I could marry a man such as you, Ryoga."

Ryoga made warding gestures. "Now wait a minute..."

"Or, if I really wanted to marry a peer, I could marry my male form to my  
female form. Making love to myself might be very rewarding..."

Ryoga's nose spurted red as he fainted.

**Author's Notes**

Changed Kuno's craziness to past tense; he's cured now.

Material excised from Ranma's lesson to Akane and inserted here:

Ranma changed the subject. "Lesson two: estrogen and fat. Estrogen has  
many functions in the body. One of them causes fat cells to proliferate.  
However, fat cells produce estrogen, which causes a difficult problem for  
overweight women and men."

Akane was puzzled. "Okay, I can see how a heavy woman would have a hard  
time loosing weight. More estrogen leads to more fat, which produces more  
estrogen. But, how is it a problem for males?"

"Too much estrogen feminizes a man's body, with unfortunate results,"  
replied Ranma. "Too much or too little estrogen impairs a woman's monthly  
cycle, leading to infertility and other problems. Student, are you  
regular?"

Akane blushed, and resisted the impulse to bash him. Ranma was not being a  
hentai, he was being a teacher, and he had the right to ask. "No, my  
periods are infrequent and unpredictable..."

"You need to add some fat, but not too much, to your body for optimal  
health. You don't have to eat as much as I do, but you should eat more  
than you have been. Your body needs fat for energy, particularly over the  
long haul."

"But I weigh too much already," protested Akane.

"You have lots of muscle, which is denser than fat. Fat floats and muscle  
sinks. That's one reason you have problems with swimming. When you loose  
fat and gain muscle your weight increases, but you're less obese."

"Oh," said Akane.

"Lesson 3: diet and nutrition," said Ranma. He continued lecturing for  
another hour.


	10. Victory?

Multiplicity

A Ranma fanfic by Mike Breslau

Disclaimer: You know the drill: better folks than I own the characters that appear in this scribbling.

* * *

The next morning male and female Ranma paid a visit to Nodoka. After some  
polite chitchat, male Ranma got right to the point. "Mom, I know you've  
always wanted to have a girl. Can you accept that I'm both your son and  
your daughter now?"

Nodoka initially didn't know how to respond. Tradition wouldn't be any  
guide here - surely no other Japanese parent had ever faced this situation  
before. She probed her heart and tentatively answered, "Yes, I guess I  
can." She looked at Ranko and continued wistfully, "But I wanted to raise  
a little girl, and you're a young woman now..."

Ranko grinned mischievously and shrank as she regressed to a much younger  
form, her clothing adjusting to her new age. "Is four years old young  
enough, or do you want me still younger?" she asked in a cute,  
high-pitched voice.

Nodoka slowly recovered her chin from the floor. "How? I mean why? What  
are you up to?"

Ranma answered, "I realized that I have a boy aspect, a girl aspect, and  
even a cat aspect in my mind now. I'm comfortable with my boy side, even  
though it still needs work..."

Ranko continued, "but I really don't know much about being a girl. And if  
I'm gonna be a girl, I want to be the best girl that I can be. I hope you  
can teach me all the things you would teach your daughter..."

Nodoka embraced chibi-Ranko and hugged her. "Yes! I'm certainly willing to  
try, dear. It's like a dream come true..."

"Can't breathe, Mom," complained chibi-Ranko.

Ranma continued, "Two points to remember, Mom. I want to get to know you  
as a mother, and not merely as a discipline enforcer. After a decade with  
pop, it would sure be nice to have a mom for balance. Second, I will  
listen to everything you say, but I won't necessarily completely obey if  
it feels wrong for me. I've gotta be my kind of guy, and I'm gonna be my  
kind of girl too."

* * *

Elsewhere, Nightmare had pulled itself entirely into the void between the  
universes. You or I would go mad were we to visit this place even briefly,  
because there is neither time nor distance there - everything that happens  
at all occurs in the same moment and in the same place. There can be no  
cause and effect in the primal void. Nightmare encountered a thousand  
other instances of itself, each in transit from one universe to another.  
The fact that there were a finite number of instances implied that its  
reign was not eternal - it was due to be stopped sooner or later. This  
didn't bother Nightmare at all, because it had very little mind - all it  
had was survival instincts and hunger. Genma is much like Nightmare in  
some ways.

Nightmare opened its senses. There! Shining brightly with life and highly  
refined ki was a universe it had yet to visit - our own universe. Too bad  
for us...

* * *

While Ranma was visiting his mother he was also paying a visit to the  
Nekohanten. Shampoo brightened up on seeing him, but she held her place  
and did not glomp him. Cologne nodded approvingly at her great  
granddaughter; her lessons on comportment were paying off.

"What do we owe the honor of your visit, Ranma?" Cologne asked politely.

"Elder, This one will be paying an extended visit to China, specifically  
to an area in the Bayankala mountains that's near your village. Your  
advice is good - most of my bodies will remain in Japan. I am here to  
offer you a free ride home if you want it."

"Aiyah!" interjected Shampoo, her eyes sparkling, "Husband coming home..."

Ranma's expression was firm, but caring. "Even when I visit your village,  
I will not be bound by your laws and traditions. The world has changed,  
and the Amazons have not yet adapted. Xian Pu, I care for you, and I will  
even father your children, but I will not be an Amazon husband while men  
are second-class citizens."

"We cannot force him, great-granddaughter," said Cologne with a sigh, "Let  
us see if what he is offering us is acceptable." Turning to Ranma, she  
asked, "Just how long is an 'extended visit' likely to last?"

"Long enough for me to learn your language. Long enough for me to tutor  
some of your warriors. That should be at least two years, perhaps longer."

Cologne raised an eyebrow. "And long enough for you to learn some of our  
secret techniques, hmm?"

"If freely offered, perhaps. That is not important to me."

Cologne wondered if the Amazons had any techniques that Ranma could want.  
Perhaps this time his self-confidence was justified. "When are you  
leaving, and how will we get there?" she asked.

"I'm leaving in two weeks, flying under my own power and bypassing customs  
and immigration. Between Mou Tse and me we can get all your luggage into  
stuff-space. I have a limited passenger-carrying capacity, but a duck, a  
cat, and a diminutive elder should be manageable without strain, if you  
agree to go that way."

Cologne almost bristled at the "diminutive elder" reference, but on  
consideration she had to concede that it was both accurate and polite. "We  
won't be able to sell the restaurant in only two weeks, but we should be  
able to complete any other preparations."

"Let Nabiki handle it - she can do a better job than you can, and she owes  
me a favor..."

Ku Lon looked thoughtful for a moment, then she nodded. "Okay, I accept."  
Switching to Mandarin she continued, "Xian Pu, Mu Tse, we have much  
planning to do."

"Aiyah!"

* * *

Kasumi relaxed in Ranma's superstrong arms as he flew with her towards Dr.  
Tofu's new establishment. During their flight Ranma was coaching her on  
how to pretend to be him - how to talk, what to ask, and what he already  
knew from earlier visits to the good doctor. "It's okay if you slip once  
or twice and use feminine speech - I'm learning how to act like a real  
girl after all. Remember, he only has to think you're me for five minutes  
or more. After that his defenses will be down and you can talk to the real  
Tofu Ono without his silliness getting in the way."

Kasumi didn't know what to think of Dr. Tofu. On one hand, he was one of  
the few - very few - men who seemed to be attracted to her; on the other  
hand, his behavior hardly qualified as 'mature', and she wanted a mate who  
acted mature. Some would consider a respected doctor to be a good catch,  
and he was good-looking. Ranma had offered her a chance to see the real  
doctor behind the silliness, and Kasumi had eagerly accepted. She didn't  
realize that a crash course in 'how to be Ranma' was part of the package.

Ranma landed in front of Tofu's door and then faded from sight, leaving a  
portion of his aura perceptible to those who knew how to look. He hoped  
that Tofu wouldn't notice that Kasumi was not the source of the nebulous  
aura. Kasumi knocked on the door.

Tofu opened the door and then hesitated when he saw his visitor.  
Suppressing his nervousness, he said, "Do come in, Ranma. That's a very  
good impersonation, you had me going for a minute there."

Kasumi smiled and answered, "Why thank you, doc."

"You've even got her voice down perfectly. You never cease to amaze me,  
Ranma."

Kasumi tried not to look around as she entered - after all she was  
supposed to be Ranma, and he had seen it all already. They exchanged  
pleasantries for a minute, and then as she had been coached to do Kasumi  
asked, "Sensei, how did you learn to be a man?"

The good doctor was flustered for a moment. "You continue to ask the  
darndest questions..." He paused to gather his thoughts. "None of us ever  
went to manhood school or took a class in that subject. I learned in the  
usual way - observing my peers behavior and getting funny looks if I ever  
did anything unmasculine. And of course, there was the occasional  
instruction from my father or my mother. Why do you ask?"

"Well, doc, I've learned how to be a martial artist, but I've never really  
learned how to be man. Now I have to learn how to be a woman too, and it's  
complicated."

Tofu nodded. "Yes that would be a challenge. I suspect that it's more  
complicated to become a woman that it is to become a man - more things to  
deal with, more rules to follow, and then there are the lechers to deal  
with. Ranma, have you had your first period yet?"

'Ranma' shuddered. "Yes, and it was quite... disturbing. Guys have it  
easier - they don't hafta deal with that stuff."

"A young woman has to learn to deal with her monthly cycles, or else  
she'll go mad. Men are never forced to come to terms with menstruation, so  
they tend to avoid thinking about it and so remain slightly uncomfortable  
about the subject for their entire lives. On the other hand, guys have to  
deal with nocturnal emissions and shaving..." His danger sense was sending  
him the gentlest of alarms. Tofu stopped, sat back, and activated his ki  
senses. Something was not as it seemed. He tentatively asked, "Kasumi,  
where is Ranma?"

Ranma morphed his body into a duplicate of Kasumi's form, then he dropped  
his cloak. "I didn't think we could fool ya for very long, doc."

Tofu gripped the arms of his chair to steady himself, but his glasses did  
not fog up, and he retained control. He looked from one Kasumi to the  
other, then spoke to the newer one. "Your therapy seems to have worked,  
Ranma, I'm keeping control."

The real Kasumi clasped her hands and answered, "I'm so glad it worked,  
Sensei."

Ranma said, "I see you don't need me any more tonight. I'll be back in an  
hour to take her home. 'Till then, have fun, you two." She phazed through  
the door and flew away.

* * *

Dusk was falling over the Sea of Japan. That mysterious moment when there  
isn't enough light for daytime vision but your night vision isn't on-line  
yet. The sun is teasing the horizon, but the stars are hiding their glory  
still. This is the dangerous time when vision is unreliable and  
hallucinations abound.

Thus, it was understandable when a Korean fisherman couldn't believe his  
eyes - he couldn't really have seen a man carrying a cage in each hand  
flying fast and low over the waves with an old troll riding piggy-back  
atop him. That was impossible; he must have been mistaken. Besides,  
anything moving that fast would have made a sound, and this object was  
completely silent. The fisherman shook his head and resumed working on the  
balky engine of his boat.

* * *

When you fly from east to west the local time becomes earlier and earlier.  
Thus, Ranma and his companions had left the Nerima area after nightfall,  
crossed the sea at dusk, crossed over North Korea late in the day, and  
finally arrived between Beijing and Yinchuan in central China just in time  
for dinner. Ranma seized the opportunity to take a break from flying, and  
also to refill his stomach.

Ranma could have flown directly to the Bayankala area in four hours or  
less, but he had to navigate without instruments, allow for the comfort of  
his passengers, avoid making sonic booms, dodge the radar of the  
suspicious Russians, the paranoid North Koreans, and the touchy Chinese,  
all the while remaining invisible to eyesight. He had enough ki and enough  
energy for the task, but nearly five hours of concentration had tired his  
mind. Even superb martial artists need to take a break every now and then.

Mousse and Shampoo were out of their cages and restored to human form.  
They were taking the opportunity to stretch their legs and explore the  
little clearing where they were temporarily camped. Cologne sat quietly,  
contemplating what she had learned on this leg of their journey. She could  
not dictate to Ranma any more than she could control the sun or the stars  
- he was no longer a man, he was a force of nature. Ranma was quietly  
preparing a meal for four on a little stove that had not existed an hour  
ago.

Shampoo was in a subdued mood, rare for the bubbly Amazon. Ranma had been  
too busy to mask his aura during the flight, giving his passengers some  
sense of just how powerful he had become. She was not, and would never be,  
his equal. Shampoo could roof-hop with the best of them, but she could not  
fly across her village, much less a quarter of the way around the world.  
If she could marry Ranma, they would be as mismatched and incompatible as  
a frog and an elephant - it would never work. She brightened - on the  
other hand, he had offered to father at least some of her children.

Mousse was also in a thoughtful mood. Since Ranma had restored his vision  
to normal, Mousse literally saw the world in a new light. It was just not  
possible to have Ranma for an enemy or a rival (unless you were suicidal),  
but Ranma was more than willing to be his friend. Further, Ranma would  
never marry Shampoo - that left the way open for Mousse to wed her if he  
were willing to raise some of Ranma's get as his own children. Food for  
thought, indeed.

Of course Ranma was untroubled as he prepared a mismatched collection of  
food and drink. Hot cocoa, green tea, ham and cheese omelet, onigiri, miso  
soup, ratatouille, garlic nan, hassenpfeffer, veggieburgers - what was  
wrong with that? Tasty, nutritious, and abundant - that's the way he liked  
his food.

After they had all finished eating - Ranma had eaten as much as the other  
three combined - Cologne breached a subject that had bothered all the  
Amazons. "Ranma, if you wouldn't mind telling us, why did you feel it  
necessary to become this overwhelmingly powerful?"

Ranma grinned ruefully as he made the remainder of their meal vanish.  
"Originally, I wanted to have a chance at living my own life. You three,  
and everyone else I knew, kept telling me what to do and how to live. Even  
if I'd wanted to, I couldn't have satisfied all of you. I said as much  
before I left on my training trip. But, after my trip, Nabiki pointed out  
something more important than my original motivation."

Cologne raised an eyebrow Spock-like.

Ranma continued in a low voice, "You all know about my original ten-year  
training trip with Genma. His methods were so extreme, so hazardous, that  
there's no way I could have survived them all intact unless something -  
gods perhaps - were watching out for me and protecting me. The only reason  
a divinity would have for protecting a kid like me would be that I was  
destined for some important task - some challenge - that no one else, god  
or mortal, could do. Knowing who and what I am, that task certainly  
involves a fight against extremely powerful opponents. Therefore, I have  
to be the very best that I can be - I don't want to disappoint the gods."

"Better you than me," muttered Cologne respectfully. The younger Amazons  
looked ashen and said nothing.

Shampoo cautiously spoke up. "There is an even worse possibility - suppose  
you were being groomed by demons, not gods, for their own purposes? Anyone  
else raised as you were would be filled with anger and resentment - ideal  
for demonic uses. Ranma, be sure to hold onto your good and forgiving  
nature - I don't want to see you fighting the gods themselves."

Ranma knew that Xian Pu was not as dumb as she appeared to be when  
speaking Japanese. He stood up. "Well, let's go meet my destiny. Back in  
your cages, you two." In a few minutes they were flying very fast, very  
low, westwards over China.

* * *

The Bayankala Mountains form a divide between China's Yellow River (to the  
north) and the Yangtze River (to the south). Generally speaking, it is a  
high and rugged area, frequently windy, but has a certain natural charm  
nevertheless. To his sorrow, Ranma was all too familiar with parts of this  
mountainous area, namely the Amazon village and the cursed valley of  
Jusenkyo. He had intended to settle down and build a home halfway between  
these two places - far enough to be out-of-the-way, yet near enough to be  
easily reached when needed.

The travelers were a few minutes away from their destination when Cologne  
'felt a large disturbance in the Force'. "Did you feel that, Ranma?"

Ranma nodded. "Yeah. Don't know what it is, but I don't like the feel of  
it." His flight path veered a little to the right so as to bring them  
closer to the disturbance. "Wouldn't ya know it, it's over Jusenkyo, of  
all places!"

Ranma approached cautiously and carefully cloaked. What he saw was a hole  
in the sky - it hurt his eyes to try to focus on it too closely - with a  
dark mist pouring out of it. The mist was composed of particles of every  
dark shade of color imaginable, but the eye blended these tiny bits  
together and registered only "dark brown smoke." There was something very  
disturbing about the mist.

Ranma probed the smoke as best he could while cloaked. "It's made out of  
ki, but ki that's gone bad somehow - sorta like milk that has spoiled." He  
landed at what he hoped was a safe distance away and restored Shampoo and  
Mousse to their human forms.

"This is most ominous," declared Cologne, "anything that stuff touches  
dies instantly." She didn't bother to say, "we must stop it somehow."

"Aiyah!"

Ranma prepared a large ki blast. "Mouko Takabisha!" He couldn't miss a  
target that large. The mist seemed to grow larger and denser where his  
attack struck. It began to move in the direction that the blast had come  
from.

"It eats ki!" exclaimed Cologned, awed.

"I suppose the first thing we should do is plug that hole so no more smoke  
comes out," observed Ranma.

"How to you plug a hole in the sky?" asked Mousse.

"Fill it up with duck tape...or a big ball of skyline...or a goddam big  
cork."

Mousse glared at Ranma. This was no time for levity. "Where are we going  
to get a big cork? And how big does it have to be?"

"Dunno," replied Ranma, "Lets find out." He picked up a boulder the size  
of a small car and began smoothing out its shape with his bare hands.

Mousse boggled while Shampoo beamed.

"I sure hope this works," said Ranma as he tossed the now-spherical rock  
at the hole. At first, it looked like the 'cork' would miss the hole, but  
due to the geometrical distortion of space itself the boulder was  
attracted towards its target. As it approached the boulder seemed to be  
too large to fit in the hole, but then it started to elongate into a  
cigar-like shape. When it struck the hole it appeared to observers as if  
the hole itself was stretching to accommodate it, and the rock was sucked  
through with a squooshing sound - and then the boulder vanished. It  
reminded Cologne of watching a child being born, only in reverse.

"Hurts my eyes," complained Mousse.

"Maybe a bigger cork?" Ranma wondered. He picked up a bigger rock and  
started altering it. First, he transformed it into a football-shaped mass  
of solid tool steel, then added an outer layer of stiff foam rubber, and  
finally a layer of rubber cement (for all the good that would do). He  
threw the 'cork' directly at the hole in the sky - without success. The  
newest cork lasted only half a minute longer than the first one had. It  
looked as if the 'cork' idea would not work. The deadly mist continued to  
pour out of the hole in the sky.

"It's coming this way," warned Shampoo. Her danger sense was going off.

A nearby portion of the dark mass was indeed moving directly towards  
Ranma. It was approaching at the speed of a brisk walk, slowly but  
inexorably, ignoring all obstacles and distractions.

"It must have sensed my use of ki," Ranma realized. "It's as hard to stop  
as Genma is when he catches sight of a plate of food. Time to call in  
reinforcements."

All over Japan Ranma's bodies made apologies for his sudden departure,  
then they vanished, converting their mass into ki. The extra ki arrived  
almost immediately in China, where Ranma converted it back into flesh.

Shampoo did a quick head count was astonished. "Five Ranmas? I thought you  
had only four bodies."

"I've been practicing," admitted one of the Ranmas. The new arrivals  
spread out to surround the smoky mass on four sides while the original  
Ranma remained heavily cloaked near the Amazons to protect them. The mist  
was confused - it was being pulled in four directions at once. It  
hesitated, then began to extend tendrils towards each of the nearby  
Ranmas.

The four Ranmas assembled moderate-sized 'corks' and threw them in unison  
at the hole in the sky. This attempt to plug the hole lasted almost five  
minutes. Perhaps throwing hundreds or thousands of objects would work, but  
he didn't have time to try it - the black smoke was approaching his  
positions.

The four Ranmas began to move clockwise around the dark mass. The four  
groping tendrils followed their targets sluggishly, giving the smoke a  
compound spiral form when viewed from above.

"Ranma, be careful," advised Cologne, "Don't use the Hiryuu Shouten Ha  
unless you have no other choice."

Ranma was confused. "Why not?"

Cologne explained, "We don't know whether it will be weakened by being  
diluted. If not, then spreading it out will have the same effect as  
letting it grow, only faster."

Ranma was annoyed. There went another of his most powerful moves. He  
couldn't touch it or hit it, he couldn't use ki against it..."Time to get  
creative." Two of his bodies on opposite sides of the smoke began to  
assemble dense clouds resembling thunderheads. In a minute intense bolts  
of lightning began to flow from cloud to cloud, passing right through the  
body of the mist. At the same time another of his bodies began tossing  
flaming briquettes into the smoke and the fourth threw chunks of dry ice.

The dark smoke ignored these attacks.

"Well that's not working," observed Ranma. His confidence was beginning to  
falter. He threw a barrage of vacuum blades, which aren't made of ki, at  
the stuff from four sides. The blades had no effect - you can't cut smoke  
with a knife.

"If not a knife, than perhaps a sword," thought Ranma. "Mousse, can you  
lend me a sword, please?"

It didn't take long for the master of hidden weapons to produce a sword  
from his sleeve. "Do you think this will do any good?" he asked.

"It's only for practice," said Ranma with a grin. He fabricated a bamboo  
shaft nearly four meters long and fastened the sword to its end to form an  
oversize spear. The bamboo was lightweight yet reasonably rigid.

"What good will that do?" asked Shampoo. Cologne only looked on with  
interest.

"It's only for practice," repeated Ranma. He picked up the spear and began  
waving it about, then throwing it here and there to get a feel for using  
the improvised weapon. He added a little weight to improve its balance.  
Satisfied, he unfastened the sword and returned it to Mousse.

Ranma reached into his stuff-space and pulled out a suitcase-sized piece  
of nothingness - an empty volume of space that somehow didn't seem to be  
empty enough. He reached into this new volume of space and pulled out the  
silver cylinder that contained the demonic sword. The Amazons realized  
what Ranma had been practicing. Opening the ward-encrusted cylinder, Ranma  
used his ki to cause the sword to float out and attach itself to the  
now-empty end of the bamboo pole. He picked up this new weapon gingerly.  
He could hold the end of the pole without the demon sucking his soul. So  
far, so good.

Ranma tossed the spear to one of his other bodies. He picked up the weapon  
and practiced using it for a minute, then he cautiously poked the sword  
end into the dark smoke. The blade flared a sickly yellow-green and began  
to consume the nearby mist. Success!

"I didn't think that would work," observed Cologne, "The demonic sword  
feasts on living souls and that brown stuff isn't alive - it has no  
soul..."

"When everything sensible that you try fails, there is no choice but to  
try something silly," said Ranma. "Sometimes it works."

Now Ranma was in a quandary. On one hand, nothing else affected the smoke;  
on the other hand, more smoke was pouring out of the hole in the sky  
faster than the demon was consuming it. He waved the sword faster and  
faster, trying to increase the rate at which it fed. This helped, but not  
enough. If he had a dozen of these cursed swords, then he might have a  
chance.

"Well, here goes nothin'." Ranma muttered. He rose into the air and  
approached the hole as closely as he could while staying out of the dark  
mist. He tried to poke the sword into the hole, but it was beyond his  
reach. He flew back down to the ground near where he had been. Ranma  
quickly produced a long length of rope and tied one end through a new hole  
in the bamboo handle. "I wonder if Captain Ahab felt like this," he mused  
as he tossed the spear-turned-harpoon directly into the hole in the sky.  
If it didn't work, at least he should be able to get the spear back.

Ranma's aim was true - as expected. What happened next was not expected.  
When the demon-possessed sword entered the hole in the sky there was a  
bright yellow-green flash, a sound like a distant explosion, and then the  
hole in the sky iris closed and vanished. Ranma hauled his rope back - the  
spear was no longer attached to the end of the rope. Oddly, the end of the  
rope had melted and stretched to a fine point before resolidifying. Ranma  
scratched his head - the rope was made of hemp fiber, which doesn't melt  
at any temperature. "Weird!"

Shampoo summarized their situation. "Is good that no smoke coming from  
hole. Is bad that we lost only effective weapon."

Cologne added, "The smoke that's already here is slowly growing as it  
consumes more ki from the environment. What can we do?"

Shampoo, ever bubbly, responded, "No worry. Ranma never loses."

Mousse observed, "I've been watching that stuff, and it has never gone  
near any of the Pools of Sorrow. Could it be harmed by water?"

"One way to find out," muttered Ranma. Four of his bodies rose into the  
air and began to fabricate storm clouds above the dark mist. Soon, it was  
raining heavily - with no effect at all on the deadly smoke. "Well, it  
seemed like a good idea at the time." His bodies returned to the ground  
feeling frustrated.

Cologne pondered aloud, "What does the demon-inhabited sword have in  
common with the Pools of Sorrow?"

"Magic!" chorused the others.

"I hate magic," mumbled Ranma, "it causes me all kinds of trouble." He  
thought long and hard with all five of his brains. "Oh well, let's try  
it." He reached out with his ki and scooped up some water from a  
particular pool and then tossed the water into the edge of the dark cloud.  
A moment later a confused octopus fell onto the ground and soon died -  
octopi do not survive long on dry land.

Ranma was in a quandary. It seemed that Jusenkyo magic was the only tool  
he had with which to combat the smoke. On the other hand, he would require  
a lot of magic - more than he could command, perhaps. It would have to be  
carefully confined and controlled. It would be disastrous if any magic  
escaped. What to do? He pondered. The safest and surest method he could  
think of was also the most difficult to implement. Ranma had a chance of  
making it work, but there was no assurance that he would survive...With a  
shock, he realized that the gods themselves couldn't do what he was  
planning to do - even with telepathy, they couldn't coordinate and  
synchronize as well as Ranma's multiple bodies could. Clearly, this was  
the battle he had been groomed for all his life - a battle only he could  
win.

"Okay, you two, get back into your cages," commanded Ranma, "I'm moving  
you all to your village."

Shampoo protested, "Amazons never run from danger..."

Cologne shushed her. "Ranma is planning to use Jusenkyo magic. You will  
obey unless you want to be permanently turned into something weird."

"Got it in one," thought Ranma. He explained, "I'm not happy about this  
situation. If I don't beat the smoke monster then everyone on Earth will  
die sooner or later. If I do what I need to do, it might cause my own  
death."

Shampoo and Mousse reluctantly assumed their cursed forms and entered  
their cages. Soon, Ranma was flying everyone back to their home town.

After the cursed Amazons resumed their human forms again, Mousse asked,  
"are you going to stay here with us while you fight the smoke?"

Ranma shook his head. "What I need to do requires six bodies - that will  
be hard enough. I can't manage seven yet, if ever." He flew back to  
Jusenkyo.

Ranma created a sixth body and then englobed the dark mist - one body in  
each of the cardinal directions, one hovering over the top of the mist,  
and the last one floating a foot above one of the cursed pools underneath  
the smoke. All his bodies remained in motion and avoided contact with the  
mist. He spent twenty minutes getting attuned with the magic of the pools  
and mentally rehearsing what he needed to do.

Finally ready, he gathered all the magic of the pools and shaped it  
to do what needed to be done. When it was as good as he could manage  
he gathered his ki into guiding and restraining forms. He converted nearby  
rocks into ki and shaped it into an energy barrier to confine the effects of the  
magic. It wasn't quite enough, so he also converted his six bodies into ki  
to reinforce his working, hoping that he could survive briefly without a physical  
body. Finally he released the magic to do its work.  
There was a bright actinic flash...

No sign of the deadly smoke remained. Two hundred confused pandas fell  
down from the sky, many landing in the water of the no-longer-cursed  
pools. It would require water hotter than boiling to restore them to their  
original mist form, so they were effectively locked into their new shapes.

It seems Nightmare now had something else in common with Genma.

Even as far away as they were, the Amazons had felt the magic and the ki  
explode. When they were sure that the fight was over they hurried back to  
Jusenkyo to see what was going on. They found dozens of dazed and confused  
pandas, a large area of blackened and lifeless vegetation, and over one  
hundred pure and uncursed pools.

There was no sign of Ranma Saotome anywhere.

**Author's Notes**

The demonic sword is now in the void between the universes, eating up all  
the instances of Nightmare. The world is a better place now, and the sword  
cannot return to our world.

All Ranma's life experiences have now come together in a meaningful  
pattern. He has been guided and shaped into becoming the only  
weapon that could defeat Nightmare.

What, if anything, can he do for an encore?

To be concluded...


	11. Epilog

Multiplicity

A Ranma fanfic by Mike Breslau

Disclaimer: You know the drill: better folks than I own the characters that appear in this scribbling.

* * *

Epilog

* * *

A small conference room located in neutral space - neither Heaven, Hell,  
nor the mortal plane - was hosting a meeting of gods and demons to decide  
what to do about Ranma. Time in this room ran one thousand times faster than  
normal so that conferences would appear to be concluded swiftly. The essence of  
Ranma Saotome was temporarily stored in a leakproof stasis field at the front of  
the room - he should be safe there and would not experience anything.

"He would make a fine god," opined one of the gods, "He had a pure heart,  
devoid of hate, and always tried to do good."

"Maybe so," responded a demon, "but he'd be an even better demon. Chaos  
and mayhem were drawn to him like moths to a flame."

Another god replied, "Yes, he would fit right in with you higher-order  
demons, but the many lower-order demons would repulse him because of their  
destructive tendencies."

A sympathetic demon suggested, "After the life he's led, I think he would  
welcome the peace of oblivion."

Suggestions were offered and rebutted for a few more minutes, and the  
atmosphere in the luxurious marble room was growing testy.

"If I may offer a suggestion," said a new and wholly unexpected voice.

Shocked, the assembled immortals could only stare and respond, "You!"

* * *

As the somber Amazons were trudging on their way home they encountered  
Ranma leaning against a large rock.

A delighted Shampoo came running up to him. "Airen! We feared you were  
dead."

"Takes more than dying ta keep me down," replied Ranma dismissively.

"How?" asked Cologne.

"Who is very good at copying techniques, even if he's seen them only  
once?"

"You are, Ranma."

"Who do you know who died and returned to life?"

"Saffron." In retrospect, it seemed obvious.

Ranma had been weakened by his ordeal, but he knew how to regenerate  
his ki swiftly, and would soon be as good as new. It was uncomfortably  
confining to be reduced to one earthly body, but he could fix that in a  
few weeks.

* * *

Somewhat later...

* * *

Divine Ranma looked around his heavenly dojo in satisfaction. His latest  
class of a dozen Valkyries was coming along nicely. After two centuries  
the other gods had grown used to him and his unorthodox ways, and he had  
found a measure of acceptance. Initially, they had distanced themselves  
from him because he had another self in Hell and they weren't sure he  
could be trusted. Now he was respected for his pure heart and his mastery  
of ki, mana, and many disciplines.

There were rumors that Ranma was having an affair with a Valkyrie.  
These rumors were true. He had also become an accomplished dancer  
in his ample spare time.

Demonic Ranma frowned at the mid-level demon in front of him. He had  
become the de facto disciplinarian of Hell, and woe to the imps who  
disappointed him. Two centuries ago the other demons had been wary of him  
because of his link to Heaven, but now they accepted and admired him -  
after all, Ranma never lost. The demons also had an easier time than the  
gods did in accepting his habits of switching genders or walking around  
with a variable number of bodies.

Ranma had found a close friendship - not a romance - with a willowy blond  
demoness. His 'hobby' consisted of gradually, subtly reforming the lesser  
demons so they would be less destructive. After all, once you've killed  
a main there's not much more you can do to him...

Chinese Ranma was teaching a class of Amazon warriors, both male and  
female, in his fortress/castle/palace not far from where his climactic  
battle had been fought. Many of his students had been his own descendants.  
Merely to be accepted into his training was considered to be an honor.  
Most of the Amazons considered Ranma to be a god - and he couldn't really  
deny it even though this particular body was ageless but mortal flesh.  
His hobbies included, strangely enough, poetry and philosophy.

Japanese Ranma came home from another day of 'work' at Tendo Industries,  
calling out a pro-forma, "Tadaima." His wife Ranko already knew that he  
was home, because he and she were the same person. He had married several  
of his fiancees a long time ago, but none of those marriages had lasted  
more than 140 years. Even with Ranma's mastery of ki and magic his mortal  
brides could not live as long as he wanted them to - their minds filled up  
with experiences, and they had lost the appetite for more. Ranma had  
mourned, then accepted their loss, because he had known in advance that  
they couldn't keep up with him. Ranma had become an exceptional musician  
in his spare time.

Ranko had had a few lovers from time to time, but all of them didn't work  
out well. For several decades she had a career as a singer - her nearly  
four octave range and exceptional control made her equally at home in  
classical, pop, and jazz singing.

American Ranma oversaw the international operations of the various Tendo  
enterprises. He didn't actually manage anything, it wasn't his style, but  
he kept those who did manage the companies on the right path. His 'advice'  
was almost always taken seriously. His biggest problems were related to  
government bureaucracy, particularly the IRS. Their agents could not  
accept his age, his gender switching, or his ability to create valuable  
objects out of thin air. Aggravating, but nothing he couldn't handle.

From time to time, at random places all around the world, some hospitals  
experienced "miracles" - all their patients, even amputees, would be  
mysteriously completely healed. Nobody ever associated these happenings  
with Ranma.

All in all, it wasn't a bad life/lives for a "dumb jock" from Nerima...

**Author's Notes**

Just who was the "wholly unexpected voice"?

It might have been Kami-Sama, or other person of power, but I prefer to  
think it was Ranma Saotome himself.

After that climactic battle, the events of the remainder of Ranma's lives  
would seem tame in comparison. I saw no point in describing them in a  
story of finite length.

I'm convinced that humans are not built to live very long lives. After the  
first century or so your memory fills up, and after that you live in the  
eternal present - without a past. Since Ranma is part mortal, part  
immortal he is better able to manage this than you or I would be.

I hope you enjoyed this.  
Mike


End file.
